What is the full form of OS

OS: Operating System

OS stands for Operating System. The operating system (OS) is one of the programmes that run on the hardware and enables the user to communicate with it by sending input commands and output commands. It allows the user, computer applications, and system hardware to connect with one another, therefore operating system acts as a hub.

This software programme known as an Operating System (OS), which is first placed into the system via a boot programme, is what controls all other applications in a computer. Without this software, every programme would have to have its own interface (UI) and all the necessary code to control the computer's low-level operations, like disc storage and network connections, which could noticeably increase the size of each application and make software development difficult. Some common examples of operating systems are Linux, Windows etc.

How it all started?

In order to control tape storage, operating systems were originally created in the late 1950s.

The very first OS was brought into use by General Motors Research Lab in the early 1950s.
Operating systems originally introduced discs in the middle of the 1960s.
The first Unix OS version was developed in the late 1960s.
Windows was the first operating system that Microsoft developed.
In 1985, a GUI was developed and integrated with MS-DOS, giving rise to the modern, commonly used OS Windows.

Some Important Functions of Operating Systems

An operating system acts as an interface between the user and the hardware, such an interface can be either a command-line interface, where users type commands to tell the OS what to do or a graphical user interface, where users click on items on the screen to communicate with the OS.
The operating system can communicate with hardware devices even if each one has a unique language with specialized translational software known as device drivers. Different drivers for operating systems are available for every piece of hardware which enable effective communication between hardware and software.
It offers an environment for software programmes to function accurately. A specialised programme used to complete a certain task is known as a software application. Whenever operating using GUI operating systems like Windows and macOS, these apps function in a standardised, graphical desktop environment.
An operating system offers a framework for data management. By exploring file and folder listings and performing operations on those files and directories, it displays the structure and directories for data management like move, copies, renames, delete, and many other such operations.
OS also monitors the health of our system's hardware, giving us an idea of how well it's performing. It examines how much data our network card is transmitting, how active our CPU is, and how rapidly hard drives recover data and also keeps an eye out for any malware activity within the system.

Generations of Operating System

There are mainly five generations of the operating system which have evolved over years and are listed below:

0th Generation
First Generation - Between 1951- 1956
Second Generation - Between 1956-1964
Third Generation- Between 1964 - 1979
Fourth Generation- 1979 till Present

Features of an Operating System

There are three important features of an Operating System.

1. Licensing

The type of Operating System totally depends on the License provided. The first is Open Source, the second is Free Operating System and the third is Commercial Operating System. Linux is an open-source operating system, anyone can download and alter it, for example using Ubuntu, etc. It's not necessary for a free operating system to be open source. For instance, Chrome OS is owned by Google and is available for free. Some of the commercial operating systems are privately owned by businesses that charge for them and examples include Apple macOS and Microsoft Windows.

2. Compatibility

The software can be compatible with one type of operating system but not with others, even though various versions of the same OS may be compatible or incompatible. The programme compatibility varies depending on the OS type.

3. Complexity

There are essentially two editions of operating systems: one is a 32-bit edition, and the other is a 64-bit edition. An operating system's 64-bit version makes optimum use of random access memory (RAM) whereas a 32-bit CPU-equipped computer can only run a 32-bit OS, but a 64-bit CPU-equipped system can run either a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.