Mithat Konar
Dec 4, 2019

• The no-OS era
• Mainframe/midrange-server era
• The personal computing era
• GUI desktop era
• Open source “era”
• Mobile era

• until ~1960
• Earliest computers did not have operating systems.
• Expectations and capabilities were simple enough that OSes weren't needed.
• Many limited-capability modern computers still don't have OSes.
  • Simple remote controls
  • Microwave oven panels

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

• ~1975-1985
• a.k.a. microcomputer era
• single user (no authentication), single tasking
• CLI and menu UI
• CP/M (1974)
• Apple II (1977)
• DOS (1981)
• Commodore 64 (1982), Amiga (1985) …

• ~1985-2010
• Apple Macintosh (1984)

• Microsoft 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
  • Windows 10 (2015)

• Apple's Mac OS X/OS X/macOS (2001)
  • Unix-based (Darwin BSD)
• Google's Chrome OS (2011)
  • Linux core hosting Google Chrome and Chrome-based apps.

• ~1991-present
• Linux (1991)
• BSD UNIX (open versions since ~1991)
• Great for desktop/laptop use.
• Great for servers.
  • Linux powers most Web servers

• ~2010 - present
• Embedded Linux (1991)
• Windows CE/Embedded (1996)
• Palm (1996)
• Symbian (1997)
• BlackBerry OS (1999)
• Windows Mobile (2000)
• iOS (2007)
• Android (2008)

• webOS (2010)
• bada (2010)
• Aliyun (2011)
• Tizen (2012)
• Sailfish OS (2012)
• Firefox OS (c. 2013)
• Ubuntu Touch (2013)

• Android Wear / Wear OS (2014)
• watchOS (2015)
• iPadOS (2019)
• Many small Linux projects

• Custom OS for supercomputers, etc.