The Traditional Definition of an Operating System - Essay Example

The traditional definition of an operating system (OS) in the 1960s is “the software that controls the hardware” (Muhammad 2). With the advancement of technology and the creation of microcode, this definition is not applicable anymore. Nowadays, an operating system refers to “the system component of a computer system that is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources on the computer” (Operating System 1). This allows it to become a host which manages the other software running on the machine.

The operating systems in our modern times function to accomplish three major goals which include hiding the details of the hardware through the establishment of abstraction, assigning the resources to specific processes, and providing the user with an interface that is simple and easy to use for his benefits (Muhammad 2).

Because of their design and task in computing devices, OS has been named as resource managers where the primary resource is the computer hardware including processors, storage, input/output devices, communication devices, and data. As a resource manager, the operating system generally functions by “implementing the user interface, sharing hardware among users, allowing users to share data among themselves, preventing users from interfering with one another, scheduling resources among users, facilitating input/output, recovering from errors, accounting for resource usage, facilitating parallel operations, organizing data for secure and rapid access, and handling network communications” (Muhammad 4).

One of the main purposes of an operating system is to allow its user to run his preferred programs. Through the OS, the user does not worry about the memory of multitasking or anything that can interrupt the convenient and efficient running of his applications. The OS makes things easy for the user through its ability to allocate resources to suit the needs and commands of the user.

The rapid technological advancement which allows the evolution of OS also enabled the creation of different types of operating systems. It should be noted that a single operating system like Windows 2000 falls into many categories as experts can lump the characteristics and features of these OS into one comprehensive type.

The Graphical User Interface (GUI) is a huge development to the rather plain text boards that are features of early computers. The GUI is an OS that contains graphics allowing users to interact with computing devices usually through a mouse by the graphical icons and visual indicators.

On the other hand, the multiple-user OS allows the use of computers by two or more individuals at the same time or at different times. Individuals sharing the same computer benefits from this by keeping their privacy through their different accounts. Thus, their documents are hidden and kept from each other.

Multitasking OS denotes those which are capable of running two or more different software at the same time on the same machine. For example, Windows 2000 can run Internet Explorer and open Microsoft Word at the same also allowing the user to do multiple tasks on the computing device.