skip to content
Mithat Konar (the wiki)
User Tools
Log In
Site Tools
Search
Tools
Show pagesource
Old revisions
Backlinks
Recent Changes
Media Manager
Sitemap
Log In
>
Recent Changes
Media Manager
Sitemap
You are here:
Mithat Konar (the wiki)
»
Computer Basics
»
A Short History of Operating Systems
Sidebar
Site
Wiki home
Main site
Interaction
Arduino
Processing
UX for software engineers
Programming
C++
Java
JavaScript
Microcontrollers
MATLAB
Python
Qt
Version Control
General
EDA
KiCad
computer_basics:a_short_history_of_operating_systems
This is an old revision of the document!
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
Page Tools
Show pagesource
Old revisions
Backlinks
Back to top