computer_basics:a_short_history_of_operating_systems
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A Short History of Operating Systems
Mithat Konar
Feb 19, 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
- ~2010 - present
- Setting the stage:
- 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.1361315353.txt.gz · Last modified: 2013/02/19 23:09 by mithat