Operating systems Quick links Operating System ABCs Operating System types Operating System overviews Troubleshooting Operating System Q&A Operating System definitions Apple news Linux / Unix news Microsoft news Operating system ABCs An Operating System, or OS, is a software program that enables the computer hardware to communicate and operate with the computer software. Without a computer Operating System, a computer would be useless. Operating system types As computers have progressed and developed so have the types of operating systems. Below is a basic list of the different types of operating systems and a few examples of Operating Systems that fall into each of the categories. Many computer Operating Systems will fall into more than one of the below categories. GUI - Short for Graphical User Interface, a GUI Operating System contains graphics and icons and is commonly navigated by using a computer mouse. See our GUI dictionary definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of GUI Operating Systems. System 7.x Windows 98 Windows CE Multi-user - A multi-user Operating System allows for multiple users to use the same computer at the same time and/or different times. See our multi-user dictionary definition for a complete definition for a complete definition. Below are some examples of multi-user Operating Systems. Linux Unix Windows 2000 Multiprocessing - An Operating System capable of supporting and utilizing more than one computer processor. Below are some examples of multiprocessing Operating Systems. Linux Unix Windows 2000 Multitasking - An Operating system that is capable of allowing multiple software processes to run at the same time. Below are some examples of multitasking Operating Systems. Unix Windows 2000 Multithreading - Operating systems that allow different parts of a software program to run concurrently. Operating systems that would fall into this category are: Linux Unix Windows 2000 Troubleshooting Common questions and answers to operating systems in general can be found on the below operating system question and answers. All other questions relating to an operating system in particular can be found through the operating system page. Linux / Variants MacOS MS-DOS IBM OS/2 Warp Unix / Variants Windows CE Windows 3.x Windows 95 Windows 98 Windows 98 SE Windows ME Windows NT Windows 2000 Windows XP Windows Vista Index Category: Software Companies: See Page Related Pages: Resolved Were you able to locate the answer to your questions? Yes No Operating system listing Below is a listing of many of the different types of operating systems available today, the dates they were released, the platforms they have been developed for and who developed them. Operating system Date first released Platform Developer AIX / AIXL Unix / Linux history can be found Various IBM AmigaOS Currently no AmigaOS operating system history. Amiga Commodore BSD Unix / Linux history can be found . Various BSD Caldera Linux Unix / Linux history can be found Various SCO Corel Linux Unix / Linux history can be found Various Corel Debian Linux` Unix / Linux history can be found . Various GNU DUnix Unix / Linux history can be found Various Digital DYNIX/ptx Unix / Linux history can be found . Various IBM HP-UX Unix / Linux history can be found . Various Hewlett Packard IRIX Unix / Linux history can be found . Various SGI Kondara Linux Unix / Linux history can be found. Various Kondara Linux Unix / Linux history can be found Various Linus Torvalds MAC OS 8 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple MAC OS 9 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple MAC OS 10 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple MAC OS X Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple Mandrake Linux Unix / Linux history can be found Various Mandrake MINIX Unix / Linux history can be found Various MINIX MS-DOS 1.x MS-DOS history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft MS-DOS 2.x MS-DOS history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft MS-DOS 3.x MS-DOS history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft MS-DOS 4.x MS-DOS history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft MS-DOS 5.x MS-DOS history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft MS-DOS 6.x MS-DOS history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft NEXTSTEP Apple Operating System history can be found Various Apple OSF/1 Unix / Linux history can be found . Various OSF QNX Unix / Linux history can be found Various QNX Red Hat Linux Unix / Linux history can be found Various Red Hat SCO Unix / Linux history can be found Various SCO Slackware Linux Unix / Linux history can be found . Various Slackware Sun Solaris Unix / Linux history can be found Various Sun SuSE Linux Unix / Linux history can be found Various SuSE System 1 Apple Operating System history can be found . Apple Macintosh Apple System 2 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple System 3 Apple Operating System history can be found here. Apple Macintosh Apple System 4 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple System 6 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple System 7 Apple Operating System history can be found Apple Macintosh Apple System V Unix / Linux history can be found Various System V Tru64 Unix Unix / Linux history can be found Various Digital Turbolinux Unix / Linux history can be found . Various Turbolinux Ultrix Unix / Linux history can be found Various Ultrix Unisys Unix / Linux history can be found Various Unisys Unix Unix / Linux history can be found Various Bell labs UnixWare Unix / Linux history can be found Various UnixWare VectorLinux Unix / Linux history can be found Various VectorLinux Windows 2000 Windows history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft Windows 2003 Windows history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft Windows 3.X Windows history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft Windows 95 Windows history can be found . IBM / PC Microsoft Windows 98 Windows history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft Windows CE Windows history can be found . PDA Microsoft Windows ME Windows history can be found . IBM / PC Microsoft Windows NT Windows history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft Windows Vista Windows history can be found . IBM / PC Microsoft Windows XP Windows history can be found IBM / PC Microsoft Xenix Unix / Linux history can be found Various Microsoft