Operating systems play a great role today in our highly computerized society. Without them we could not do everything we do, since allow us to develop multitasking through a computer.
Although this is so simple today, and so broad in its different versions and types of operating systems ( Mac OS , LINUX , Windows ), started based on a very basic structure that only allowed the execution of a single task. If you want to know a little more, we invite you to read below.
In this post you will find a brief history of the operating systems and all their versions until the one we know today. All these systems, despite being different and with different objectives, started from the same mother known as UNIX .
Index:
What is an operating system and what is its main function on a computer ?
The operating system is the main software that we must have installed on our computer, since without it it is as if we do not have an active computer.
Essential to be able to install programs, the operating systems are also responsible for giving a correct function of the drivers so that they can recognize the hardware. An example of this are keyboards , mouse, cameras and more.
On some occasions operating systems have much greater responsibility , for example, that of the traffic police, which ensures that programs and users are functioning correctly and at the same time. Also can be used for security , so that external people cannot access private information, and much more.
What was the first operating system that existed? Who and why was it created?
What we know today as computing comes from a constant evolution over time. The first steps were taken from World War II , in the mid-40s , a time when there was not even the term ‘Operating System’.
At that time programmers communicated through computers , which had a machine language, programming only with 0s and 1s. Then in the decade of the 50, began to emerge the concept of Operating System , specifically in 1956, used for an IBM 704 computer, which basically only allowed the execution of other programs on it.
Again this system evolved in the 60s, creating a modification of the initial operating system to one that allowed multitasking or multi-use, being in this same decade when UNIX appeared, which is the main base of the operating systems .
In the 70s the personal computer was born, with an operating system created through the programming language C , being the evolution of UNIX.
As a result, operating systems such as MacOS, MS-DOS , and Windows came to light in the 1980s. In competition, new companies joined in the creation of new systems and Linux was born , being this already in the 90s, which later joined the GNU project, which is a completely free operating system .
UNIX What was the impact of this OS on the history of Information Technology ?
As we mentioned, Unix was not the first operating system , but it was the one that had the most impact on society and the evolution of operating systems. He was born specifically in 1969, created by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Rudd Canaday, among others .
At the beginning it was baptized as UNICS, but because it was unsuccessful, it was modified to UNIX, developed by the Bell laboratories of AT&T and General Electric, although its first launch was discriminated a little because it was an expensive and slow operating system .
Over time, UNIX was used as a prototype through the University of California at Berkeley to launch a more updated version. Then, Windows worked with UNIX, although it is said that I work with DOS .
Microsoft created a version of UNIX for them, called XENIX , in order to use it on microcomputers, slightly smaller computers and some machines back then. This version was released in 1980, with constant updates until 1989 . Microsoft subsequently decided to work with DOS, which helped improve its system architecture and significantly increase its sales.
As with Windows, it happened but a little differently with GNU / LINUX, that was rewritten from scratch with the goal of a completely free architecture, which could be adapted to devices and computers.
LINUX used MINIX and UNIX as support to create its system , where it was given the name of MINUX, until after the Richard Stallman GNU project was born.
As there was so much competition in the market, the Apple company was not far behind, and in 2001 it was supported by UNIX, although not completely, giving birth to MAC OS X , which was written entirely from scratch. With this we can conclude that UNIX is the mother of the operating systems, since without it the ones we know today would not have been born.
Birth of modern OS When and how are Windows, MacOS and Linux born? ?
Next, we tell you more about the most famous operating systems:
Windows
Windows was born as such in 1975 by William H. Gates III and Paul Allen , who at that time were simple students and shared a great fondness for computers, who decided to program through a computer PDP-10 of Digital Equipment Corporation.
As we already mentioned, its main architecture was inspired by UNIX . However, some time later the MS-MOD Windows was formed with a slightly different architecture, and with such striking improvements that from that moment on its sales began to increase in a noticeable way, leading to that after 2000 new versions will be created until today that Windows 10 exists
Linux
This, as we know, is an operating system that was implemented with the idea of a free system and open so that anyone can access its writing and modify its structure according to your taste .
It was in 1983 that Richard Stallman first created the GNU project , all devised from a UNIX structure, and compatible with POSIX, for two years after ceasing to be a simple project, and become a free software foundation.
Being a system that allows people to write structures and make modifications, was seen with great growth , even larger than Windows. Although he did not have a good Kernel. Thanks to UNIX it was growing and evolving strongly .
Although it grew very fast, they never dared to launch the first version of LINUX, since they did not consider it good, being for the personal use of its creator Linus Torvalds strong>. Some time later (1991) they released the second version, which if it went to the market known as LINUX 0.02 .
Then he released his version 0.03. Although, for failures and tests, he jumped from all versions at 0.10. Then in 1992 increased its versions until 0.95, and thanks to the recognition and good acceptance, the current versions of LINUX are available.
MacOS
This is one of the youngest operating systems, and its first release was in mid-2001, although it was given the name of MAC Operating System, thanks to its version Mac OS X released in 1984 .
Unlike its predecessors, the operating system of MAC OS X is very similar to that of UNIX, which allowed it to make a great contribution to technology driven by NeXT, in the mid-1980s.
Some time later Apple bought the company (1997), releasing its true and first version in 1999, known as Mac OS X Server 1.0, that was launched to compete in the market in March 2001, and that really was version number 10.
Its growth was not very easy, because parts of its system were a bit more complicated and expensive than the others, besides being one of the youngest competed until today against Microsoft and LINUX .
Chronology of the versions of the most important operating systems in history span>
Take note of the following:
Windows
Windows was one of the operating systems that first hit the market. For this reason has a lot of versions , and others as we call them editions or sub-versions.
- Windows 1 (1985)
- Windows 2 (1987)
- Windows 3 (1990)
- Windows NT (1993) li >
- Windows 95 (1994)
- Windows 98 (1998)
- Windows Me (2000)
- Windows XP (2001)
- Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional
- Windows XP Media Center
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Exclusive sale editions
- Windows XP Starter
- Windows XP N
- Windows XP K & KN
- Windows XP Embedded
- Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PC
- Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
- Windows Vista (2007)
- Windows Starter.
- Windows Vista Home Basic. li>
- Windows Vista Home Basic N (European antitrust version)
- Windows Vista Home Premium (the most widespread)
- Windows Vista Business.
- Windows Vista Business N (European antitrust version)
- Windows Vista Enterprise.
- Windows Vista Ultimate.
- Windows 7 (2009)
- Starter
- Home Basic
- Home Premium
- Professional
- Ultimate
- Enterprise
- Embedded Standard
Editions N and KN
- Windows 7 Home Premium N
- Windows 7 Professional N
- Windows 7 Ultimate N
- Windows 8 (2012)
- Windows 8 (home)
- Windows 8 Pro (networks)
- Windows 8 Enterprise (only available for businesses )
- Windows 8 RT (for ARM processors of tablets, comes pre-installed)
- Windows 8.1
- Windows 10 ( 2015)
- Windows 10 Home
- Windows 10 Pro
- Windows 10 Enterprise
- Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB
- Windows 10 Education
- Windows 10 Mobile
- Windows 10 S
- Windows 10 Pro for Workstation
- Windows 10 Mobile Enterprise
Windows 10 Team
- Windows 10 Pro Education
- Windows 10 IoT
- Windows 10 N and KN
MacOS
Recall that Mac OS is an operating system that was generating systems and software since mid-1984, but after becoming Apple launched its first official OS in 2001.
- 1984: System 1
- 1985: System 2
- 1986: System 3
- 1987: System 4
- 1988: System 6
- 1990: System 7
- 1997: Mac OS 8
- 1999: Mac OS 9
- 2001: Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah
- 2001: Mac OS X 10.1 Puma
- 2002: Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
- 2003: Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
- 2007: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
- 2009: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard
- 2011: Mac OS X 10.7 Lion
- 2012: Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
- 2013: Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks
- 2014: Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite
- 2016: Mac OS X 10.12 macOS Sierra
- 2017: Mac OS X 10.13 macOS High Sierra
- 2018: Mac OS X 10.14 macOS Mojave
- 2019: Mac OS X 10.15 macOS Catalina
2005: Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
2015: Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan
Linux
After the announcement of its release in 1991, this project has had the contribution of hundreds of developers , and then we will see some of its main milestones:
- 1983 – 1989: The first version of GNU GPL was created
- 1991: The LINUX core is created
- 1992: The LINUX core is licensed under the GNU GPL license
- 1993: Many trial versions are created
- 1994: The first version of LINUX 1.0 is published
- 1996: The second one is released version (LINUX 2.0)
- 1997: LINUX is considered as an open system and several software companies created App and programs for this and its versions
- 1998: Oracle is created with support for LINUX
- 2001: LINUX is discriminated for 64-bit and 32-bit, for better processing.
- 2007: Dell becomes the first computer manufacturer with the pre-installed UBUNTU system li >
- 2015: Simplify your designs so that anyone can add new versions or designs.