What are the commonly used operating systems?

Some of the commonly used operating systems are discussed below:

1. Windows: Microsoft launched Windows 1.0 operating system in 1985 and since then Windows has ruled the world’s software market. It is a GUI (Graphic User Interface) and various versions of Windows have been launched like Windows 95, Windows 98, Win NT, Windows XP, Windows 7 and the latest being Windows 8.

2. Linux: Linux is a free and open software which means it is freely available for use and since its source code is also available so anybody can use it, modify it and redistribute it. It can be downloaded from www.linux.org. It is a very popular operating system used and supported by many companies. The defining component of this operating system is the Linux kernel.

3. BOSS (Bharat Operating System Solutions): This is an Indian distribution of GNU/Linux. It consists of Linux operating system kernel, office application suite, Bharateeya OO, Internet browser (Firefox), multimedia applications and file sharing.

4. UNIX: It is a multitasking, multiuser operating system originally developed in 1969 at Bell Labs. It was one of the first operating systems developed in a high level language, namely C. Due to its portability, flexibility and power, UNIX is widely being used in a networked environment. Today, ”UNIX” and “Single UNIX Specification” interface are owned and trademarked by The Open Group. There are many different varieties of UNIX, although they share common similarities, the most popular being GNU/Linux and Mac OS X.

5. Solaris: It is a free Unix based operating system introduced by Sun Microsystems in 1992. It is now also known as Oracle Solaris. Solaris is registered as compliant with Single UNIX Specification. It is quite scalable and is used on virtual machines.