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History of Operating Systems
Although in the context of our current course we will rely on two well-known operating
systems, Windows and Linux, and each has its own timeline, the history of operating systems
goes back much further than the early DOS-based Windows OS and its later NT-based versions,
and the first Linux system that saw the light of day in the early 1990s and evolved into the many,
many distributions we know today. Considering the operating system as “the fundamental
software that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer” (Carswell et al. 47),
the history of operating systems confirms that there has been a symbiotic relationship between
the development of hardware and software, in this case operating systems, with an impressive
increase in their capabilities that continues to evolve to this day.
There are different classifications on how the Operating System evolved. I would like to
refer them in the following way: The first generation (1940-1950) consisted of vacuum tube
computers that lacked operating systems and required manual entry of machine language
instructions. They evolved into batch processing systems, in which programs were grouped and
executed sequentially. The second generation, in the 1960s, saw the emergence of integrated
circuits, multiprogramming and time-sharing systems, which allowed multiple users to interact
simultaneously with computers. This era saw the appearance of such important operating
systems as Multics and UNIX. The third generation in the1970s and 1980s brought personal
computers with MS-DOS and the first versions of Windows and Apple, along with the
introduction of Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), which revolutionized user interaction with
computers. The fourth generation from1990s to present, marked the beginning of the modern era
of operating systems, with the rise of GUI-based systems such as Windows 95 and the creation
of Linux by Linus Torvalds (Tanenbaum and Bos 7–20) (ChatGPT, "Summarize")
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From the 2000s to the present day, usability, security and networking capabilities have
improved, with the development of mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android for
smartphones. This period has also seen the gradual transition from 32-bit to 64-bit systems,
which has significantly improved computing power and capabilities. More recent advances
include the integration of artificial intelligence features, such as voice assistants, which further
enhance the functionality and user experience of modern operating systems (GeeksforGeeks).
Comparing early operating systems with today's operating systems reveals important
contrasts:
User interface: Early systems required manual input of machine language
instructions, while modern operating systems include advanced graphical
interfaces and even voice assistants with artificial intelligence.
Multitasking: Early batch processing systems executed programs sequentially,
while today's operating systems support complex multitasking and multi-user
environments.
Functionality: Early operating systems focused on automating basic tasks, while
today's systems offer enhanced security, networking capabilities, and more
advanced features.
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Works Cited
Carswell, Ron, et al. Guide to Parallel Operating Systems With Windows 10 and Linux.
3rd ed., Cengage Learning, 2015.
Tanenbaum, Andrew S., and Herbert Bos. Modern Operating Systems. 4th ed., Prentice
Hall, 2015, csc-knu.github.io/sys-prog/books/Andrew%20S.%20Tanenbaum%20-%20Modern
%20Operating%20Systems.pdf.
ChatGPT. “Summarize page 7-20” prompt. ChatGPT, OpenAI, 19 Sept. 2024
GeeksforGeeks. “History of Operating System.” GeeksforGeeks, 23 May 2024,
www.geeksforgeeks.org/evolution-of-operating-system.
