Operating Systems An operating system (OS) works as an interface between applications and hardware. They also have many other features and functions, for example a GUI (graphical user interface), a file system that controls how data is saved and retrieved; managing hardware resources, like allocating a game a certain amount of CPU, GPU, and RAM usage; and much more. An application, like Google Chrome and iTunes run on top of the system software. System software is what the computer uses to operate at a useful level, such as running/storing files and applications, and managing peripherals - like printers, your mouse and keyboard and external storage devices. System software can be operating systems, that usually contain registries, boot-loaders, file systems (for saving, moving, copying files like .jpeg, .pdf etc. around) and a few more things. Most operating systems have the other system software included with them. A computer needs an operating system to work at a useful level. Before the GUI, using computers to do what we do today with them was simply out of reach for normal people to use. Now we can also multitask, having different applications open like Chrome and Word, for example when writing a report. Examples of Operating Systems Microsoft Windows Normally on most computers you’ll see out in the wild, including mine, a version of Microsoft Windows (Nowadays, Windows Vista, 7, and 8/8.1) will be installed, including the school’s ones, using Windows 7 Enterprise. You can identify (most) Microsoft Windows operating systems by seeing a taskbar on the bottom, and having minimize, maximize, and exit button on the right hand corner of windows open. Apple OS X OS X is usually found on Apple Mac computers, though can be installed on a normal PC with compatible parts and enough knowledge in how to make a ‘Hackintosh’. Instead of a taskbar, a dock is used. The main feature of the taskbar carries over, clickable icons that open applications. Most other things, for example, accessing network settings and the clock are on the top bar. Making a Hackintosh is hard, at least in my experience. You have to have compatible parts, a Mac to get the OS from, then you need to know how to do it right. I’ve never heard of a Hackintosh that works perfectly. Linux Distributions Now, it’s hard to identify Linux distributions, as there are so many different distributions of the Linux operating system. The reason behind this is that it is open source, meaning anyone can edit the ‘source code,’ basically the code that the software was made of; therefore being able to make essentially their own tailored version of Linux, sacrificing compatibility with other distributions for the actual ability to have all these different distributions. An important thing to note is that Linux by itself is just a kernel (the core of an operating system), so it doesn’t have a GUI and a few other features. A Linux distribution will usually have a GUI system in it. The most popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu (other popular ones are Mint and Fedora). Ubuntu can be identified with having a dock on the side, and a bar on