Different types of operating systems

Linux, Windows, Sun Solaris and Macintosh are some of the popular computer operating systems. But do you know who have designed their own operating system and use it on their local machines? So, what is all this fuss about computer operating systems and how to decide which one to use? Before we start taking about operating systems for computers, let us try to understand, what a computer operating system is.

A computer operating system is nothing but system software because of which the software and hardware in a computer can communicate with each other. In short, it is what takes life to a computer. Simply it is the computer operating system, on which you run all your applications. If you want to run certain software in your computer, it needs to be compatible with the operating system that is running in your computer. So much for the purpose of creating you aware of what is a computer operating system. Now that you have some good idea about what is a computer operating system, let us try to understand, how different types of operating systems can be used.

Types of Computer Operating System

Computer operating systems can be broadly classified into many categories. One thing kept in mind is that one particular operating system can fall into more than one category. The classification is based on the features that operating systems have.

Multithreading Operating Systems
These are the operating systems that allow to use different types of the same software to run at the same time. Operating systems like Windows XP, 9X, ME, Vista, windows 7 and Linux are examples of this type of operating system.

Multitasking Operating System
If your computer operating system allows you to run more than one application software at the same time, than it can be classified into Multitasking operating system. The same operating systems that have been mentioned above can be classified as examples of this type of operating system.

GUI Operating System
GUI means graphical user interface. This type of operating systems like Windows 98, XP, ME, Vista, 7 and Linux, which allow users to navigate graphic representation of every process or application are classified into this type of operating system.

CUI Operating System
This type of the computer operating systems, where you need to learn the commands for working with that particular operating system . MS DOS is one of the most used operating system. There is a particular command for each process and to bring in variation to the command, you have switches.

Multi-user Operating System
Multi-user operating systems which allow more than one user to log in to the computer system at the same time and use it; it can be classified as multi-user operating system. Linux is the most common example of this type of operating system, which allows six users to login at the same time and user used the this operating system very easily.