Operating Systems Case Study

Operating Systems A computer is useless without an operating system and without it every program would need the full hardware specification to run correctly and perform tasks. An operating system, also known as OS, is a software on the hard drive that allows the hardware of a computer to communicate and operate with the computer software. The OS is the most important software running on a computer because it handles the memory, processes and all of its software and hardware (Operating Systems). The OS helps coordinate all the programs that can access your CPU, memory and storage so that each program gets what it needs. There are different types of operating systems that can be found in any computer devices that will be explained further later on.
Figure 1 depicts the OS programs that lie between the applications software and the computer hardware (Operating Systems). It also shows how the application software links with the OS link with the hardware. Within the OS there is a supervisor program that manages the OS. There are three main functions of an OS: manage the computer’s resources, establish a user

2015). Windows OS provides a graphical user interface or GUI, virtual memory management, multitasking and support for many devices. MS DOS was one of the earliest operating system for consumers (Britannica.com Editors. 2015). Windows was seen as a graphical user-interface or GUI that allowed users an easier and more visually pleasing way to use MS-DOS. Windows is different than other OS because they were able to have various windows operating more than one program or process simultaneously on the computer screen. Figure 2 shows the different “windows” that can simultaneously operate at the same time (Computer