A series about IT Stuff. In my daily work I act like the bridge between the IT technicians and the business. The most important thing to remember is that IT is always in service of the business. Everything that IT does has to benefit the business. With this in mind I decided to dedicate a series dedicated to IT stuff with the end users in mind. The first subject deals with the term Operating System.
Operating System
A PC is nothing but a lot of different parts attached to each other, in order to make all these different parts work together you need an Operating System. Think of the Operating system as the brains of your computer.
An operating system is made up of different parts:
Kernel
The heart of the OS, this part controls everything. This is the most important part of the OS and the part we never get to see. When you do see warning messages about the kernel, remember this: You are in a lot of trouble!Graphic user interface
The part of the OS we know and love. The Graphic user interface or GUI is the graphical environment where we click on icons, open windows, change wallpapers etc. WIthout the GUI all we would have is a black screen and a blinking prompt.Drivers
You probably heard of drivers. This is software that is needed to make the different parts of a PC or devices connected to the computer work with the OS.
There are millions (maybe more) different computer parts and peripherals. It is impossible to put all the software needed to make this hardware work into the Operating system. This is why drivers are needed, a lot of standard drivers are already included in Operating system but often you have to install a driver to gain full functionality of the hardware.
The different Kinds
There are different kinds of Operating system. I will list the most important ones for (personal) computers.
- Windows OS (Microsoft)
The most well known of all Operating Systems, Windows has set the standard for Operating Systems. The Windows operating system is used on PC's all over the world.
A Personal PC is a standard set by IBM a long time ago. Most modern day computers with the exception of Apple computers are built by the IBM standard.
- Mac OS X (Apple)
The Operating system used for Apple computers. The OS X Operating system is custom built for Apple certified hardware. This is why you can not (without modifications) install OS X on a PC or install Windows on an Apple PC.
- Linux (Open Source)
The outsider, this Operating system can be installed on both Apple computers and Personal Computers (IBM standard). Linux open source unlike Windows and OS X. Open Source means that the source of the software is free and people can modify the software if they like. It's basically free software by the people and for the people. There are many different Linux versions (called distros/distributions), the most well known are Ubuntu, Red Hat and Suse.
One of the most user friendly Linux distributions is Linux Mint (Ubuntu based)
- Chrome OS (Google)
A newbie OS made by Google. This Operating system is different from the other operating systems because it uses a web browser (Google Chrome) as a User interface. The Operating system is optimized for online application where the classic Operating system are designed for local applications.
For the users
Chances are that if you bought a PC or Apple that the OS is already installed. But remember that Linux or Chrome OS can be a good alternative. My advise is to try these Operating Systems out just to see how they work.
Linux has become a very user friendly Operating system and if you are not a power user than Chrome OS can be something for you. There is nothing to be scared of with trying a new Operating System. Remember that your smartphone also has a Operating system (either Android or iOS) and you had to learn to use that as well.
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