OddballGreg - Operating Systems (What's The Difference?)

Operating system logo's and mascots. Pictured above is the Microsoft logo, Tux, the linux penguin, the Ubuntu Linux log, and the Google Android mascot.

A few days ago, a friend of mine asked me to do an article on what the differences between the most used Operating Systems are. Interestingly enough, this question is not quite as easily answerable as you might expect. Let's talk about that.

First and foremost, what is an operating system: "An operating system (OS) is software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs. The operating system is an essential component of the system software in a computer system." - Wikipedia (Goes to inflict grievous bodily harm to self for quoting Wikipedia)

Fantastic, so, now that we know what an Operating System is, lets try to answer the question. First and foremost, we need to decide what, exactly, are the most used Operating Systems. Now if you were lazy, you would probably say: "Uhhh, isn't that Windows and MacOS?". While you wouldn't be wrong, and those are indeed 2 of the most used Operating Systems out there, there are a great many more computer operating systems out there. Most notably missing from that list is Linux and it's many, MANY spawn that stem from it. On top of this, we are not even considering the fact that Android, IOS and Windows Phone, are in technicality, operating systems as well.

While I could be lazy and simply say that my friend wanted to know the main differences between PC Operating systems; that is to say, Personal Computer, which while technically applicable to phones, has come to be commonly understood as someone's home desktop or laptop computer. That would be no fun though, so I'll talk about both mobile and PC Operating systems in separate sections. In terms of popularity, It's fair to surmise that any Operating Systems I did not mention are clearly not commonly used, since with research, I still don't know they exist. That said, lets begin with PC Operating systems!

PC Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows

First up to the batter plate is Microsoft Windows, perhaps the most commonly used operating system in the world. (Don't quote me on that.) Windows is, and has always been, primarily focused towards office and general purpose use, and, to a degree, is good enough for those purposes. Somewhat easy to install, set up and run, Windows is good because it doesn't require a rocket scientist to figure out how to remove a program. (*cough* linux *cough*)

While perhaps not the most elegant option for most things, it's arguable that for someone not very technically adept, Windows is about the best thing you could give a newbie to start learning to use compared to the other commonly used Operating Systems; due to the cross compatibility of hardware for Windows, it's ability to do anything moderately well, and it's relative ease of use. For dedicated computing however, you'd be hard put to say that Windows is your best choice for anything apart from computer games, and even that is slowly become incorrect as game distribution platforms like Steam and the widely acclaimed Linux WINE program are making it increasingly unnecessary for gamers to stick to Windows to run their games.

MacOS

MacOS is the Macintosh operating system from Apple for the Apple Mac. (Get it?) Exclusive to Apple made hardware, MacOS is lauded for technical superiority and ability to easily do things like run artistic programs such as Photoshop, video editing software, 3D modeling programs, etc. Basically, MacOS is considered something of an artists tool. As for it's ease of use and whether or not it deserves such a reputation, I cannot accurately confirm or dispute due to the fact that I've never actually used MacOS or owned a mac. (And I couldn't exactly just go buy one for a blog post. Not yet anyway.)

Many Apple purists will tell you that MacOS is the best, but many Apple purists also tend to have extremely deep pockets as well, as the MacOS runs exclusively on Apple hardware, (and vice versa). So unless you have a hefty sum of money to shell out, MacOS is not your best option. While MacOS is enjoyed for it's "Works out of the box" attitude to use, there is the unfortunate problem to consider that Mac computers are usually rather fragile, and do not have the same part interchangeability of regular computers. As such, if you drop it, you buy a new one; instead of just replacing the part that got damaged like you would with a Windows/Linux PC.

Linux

Linux is a difficult operating system to accurately talk about the pro's and con's of, simply due to the fact that Linux is, technically speaking the base architecture for a multitude of "distributions" of lLinuxwhich are tailored towards a multitude of uses. The 44 fastest supercomputers in the world run off some permutation of Linux and Linux is free to be redistributed, as such, anyone is able to create their own distribution which can be created for any use ranging from home computer to company server to research supercomputer. Some of the popular mainstream distrubutions include Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, openSUSE and Arch Linux, all of which are best suited for different tasks as determined by what packages form part of their basic package, which in itself can be easily customized post-install. tl;dr, Linux is this really cool, usually open-source, usually free operating system that can do all kinds of stuff.

The downside is you need to be a rocket scientist to use it... kind of. I'll be the first to point out the the "Graphical User Interface" or "GUI" is not a focus of Linux like it is for MacOS and Windows. Many Linux distributions are centered around the use of a terminal or Command Line Interface and eschew all graphics in favor of speeding up the computer. (For the non-technical of you, that means that there's no buttons to click on. You type in commands and the computer writes back about what happened.) While this not a bad thing in any way, it does mean that actually figuring out how to do anything with Linux almost deserves a class of it's own; and after 4 days "Job-Shadowing" a Linux user back in High School, I felt like I had achieved something when I learned how to find my way around the file directory, let alone actually do anything useful.

In short: Windows is the cheap, easy to use OS that does what you need it to do usually. MacOS is the expensive OS that does what it's designed to do really well, if you can afford to get the hardware it natively comes with. And Linux is the hardcore programmer OS that can do all manner of amazing things, for free, if you can figure out how to use it. And now, onto the 4 commonly used smartphone operating systems:

Mobile Operating Systems

IOS

IOS is the Apple mobile operating system which is, again, designed exclusively for the Apple Iphone, as well as the various other "I"gadgets such as Ipods and the like. Following the Mac principle of "Works out the box", IOS is very user friendly and does what a person needs it to do, when they need it to, while offering very little in terms of customization. It's also expensive, just like everything else Apple makes. While inherently reliable, IOS can be painful for some due to it's need to pair and synchronize with Itunes to do any data exchange with a PC, and can only do so with that specific PC lest it re-synchronize and effectively wipe all your data. FUN! It also has the nasty problem of requiring one's credit card details to simply sign up to the Istore, even if you don't intend on buying anything. (Call me a skeptic, but I don't trust that.)

Indisputably, IOS and Apple Phones are good at what they do, but their price and complete rejection of user customization can be something of an issue for some. If they aren't for you, I probably would suggest getting an Iphone.

Android

Android, the Google developed smartphone operating system which is based on Linux. Very customisable, Android is the technical minded person's joy simply because it'll let anyone who wants to tinker with it's inner workings to do so. While this is open to abuse by hackers and can allow those lacking in caution to "brick" their phone, the ability to even completely reinstall or change the operating system of your phone is something that Apple simply does not offer with IOS, and as such is the reason why Android is available on phones ranging from Samsung to HTC and many others besides. Also, it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to get an Android phone. (Unless it's a Samsung.)

Windows Phone

Less known and soon technically defunct as the latest versions of Windows become platform independent, (That is to say, Windows 10 is going to be the same operating system, regardless of whether you're using a smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer.) Windows Phone is the Microsoft answer to Android and IOS which is great for... the "Modern UI". In all technicality, Windows Phone is not a bad mobile operating system, except for the fact Android and IOS do it better, and are more widely used and supported. The range of app's for Windows Phone is abysmally small, as is the market for Windows Phones, which is why most companies haven't even bothered supporting it in any way. Basically, don't bother.

And with that, that bring's us to the end of the topic. I hope that I have sufficiently answered the question, (or perhaps done so in excess), and that you are somewhat better informed about the purposes of the more mainstream Operating Systems out there. If not, feel free to ask any questions you may have down in the comments below, or via Facebook/Twitter. Of course, your support via the sharing of this article with any of your friends who are curious about Operating Systems would be greatly appreciated; as is your liking of the Official TCSA Facebook page and/or following of us on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the left, thus enabling you to get all the latest posts, as they're published. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again soon.

Farewell my friends.