computer_basics:a_short_history_of_operating_systems

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A Short History of Operating Systems

Mithat Konar
Feb 13, 2013

The major eras

Mainframe/midrange-server era
The personal computing era
GUI desktop era
Open source “era”
Mobile era

Mainframe/midrange-server era

~1960-1975
multiuser, multitasking
UNIX (late 1960's)
- many versions
- commercial but given away to academic institutions
- still widely used in research and academia

The personal computing era

~1975-1985
a.k.a. microcomputer era
single user, single tasking
CLI and menu UI
CP/M (1974)
Apple II (1977)
DOS (1981)
Commodore 64 (1982), Amiga (1985) …

GUI desktop era

~1985-2010
Apple Macintosh (1984)

GUI desktop era

Windows
- 1.0 (1985), 3.1 (1992): DOS-based
- Windows NT (1993): UNIX competitor
- Windows 95 (1995): preemptive multitasking
- Windows 98 (1998): networking support
- Windows 2000 (2000): NT evolved
- Windows XP (2001): true multiuser; Pro, Home versions
- Windows Vista (2006): gazillions of versions
- Windows 7 (2009): many versions
- Windows 8 (2012): one-OS-for-all-platforms, touch-centric
- Server-centric
  - Windows Server 2008
  - Windows Home Server

GUI desktop era

Apple OS X (2001)
- Unix-based (Darwin BSD)

Open-source alternatives

~1991-present
Linux (1991)
BSD UNIX (open versions since ~1991)
Either can be configured for desktop or midrange server (or larger!)
Linux powers most Web servers

Mobile era

Setting the stage
- ~2010 - present
- Embedded Linux (1991)
- Windows CE/Embedded (1996)
- Palm (1996)
- Symbian (1997)
- BlackBerry OS (1999)
- Windows Mobile (2000)

Mobile era

Showtime!
- iOS (2007)
- Android (2008)
- webOS (2010)
- bada (2010)
- Aliyun (2011)
- Tizen (2012)
- Firefox OS (2013?)
- Ubuntu Mobile (2013?)

Not covered

Custom OS for supercomputers, etc.

computer_basics/a_short_history_of_operating_systems.1361313485.txt.gz · Last modified: 2013/02/19 22:38 by mithat