story of operating system

  • GM-NAA I/O

    GM-NAA I/O
    Developed by Robert L. Patrick of General Motors for use on their IBM 704 mainframe. It was primarily designed to automatically switch to the next job once its current job was completed. Used on about fourty IBM 704 mainframes.
  • MCP (Master Control Program)

    MCP (Master Control Program)
    Developed by Burroughs Corporations for their B5000 mainframe. MCP is still in used today by the Unisys ClearPath/MCP machines.
  • DOS/360

    DOS/360
    IBM developed a few unsuccessful mainframe Operating Systems until it finally released DOS/360 and its successors, which put IBM in the driver seat for both the hardware and OS industries.
  • Unix

    Unix
    Developed by AT&T Bell Labs programmers Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna. It gained widespread acceptance first within the large AT&T company, and later by colleges and universities.
  • BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)

    BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution)
    Developed by the University of California, Berkeley. BSD is a Unix variant based on early versions of Unix from Bell Labs.
  • MS-DOS

    MS-DOS
    Developed by Microsoft for the IBM PC’s. It was the first widely available Operating Systems for home users. Microsoft Windows allowed users a graphical user interface (GUI), which rapidly spread Microsoft’s product.
  • SunOS

    SunOS
    Developed by Sun Microsystems, SunOS was based on BSD. It was a very popular Unix variant.
  • Mac OS

    Mac OS
    Developed by Apple Computer, Inc for their new product, the Macintosh home PC. Mac OS was the first OS with a GUI built-in. This lead to a very stable OS, as well as wide acceptance due to its ease of use.
  • OS/2

    OS/2
    Developed by a joint venture of IBM and Microsoft. Though the OS was heavily marketed, it did not pick up in popularity.
  • Lunix

    Lunix
    Developed by Linus Torvalds as a free Unix variant. Linux today is a very largely contributed Open Source project that plays a very prominant role in today’s server industry.
  • Sun Solaris

    Sun Solaris
    Developed by Sun Microsystems, Solaris is a widely used Unix variant, and partially developed based on Sun’s SunOS.
  • Windows NT

    Windows NT
    Developed by Microsoft as a high-end server Operating System, the NT code became the basis for Operating Systems to this day. NT was primarily used on computers used as servers to counter the Unix dominance in the arena.
  • Windows95

    Windows95
    Developed by Microsoft, it was the first Microsoft Operating system to have a graphical user interface built into it. It was tremendously marketed (successfully) and quickly swept across the country and the globe.
  • JavaOS

    JavaOS
    Developed by Sun Microsystems, JavaOS was developed primarily using the Java programming language. The OS was created to be installed on any device, including PC’s.
  • Windows98

    Windows98
    Developed by Microsoft, Windows 98 was the next iteration of the Microsoft Windows95 Operating System.
  • MacOS X Server 1.0

    MacOS X Server 1.0
    Developed by Apple Computer, Inc., MacOS X Server 1.0 was a precursor to Apple’s MacOS X desktop version, which replaced it in 2001. MacOS X Server 1.0 was developed for Apple’s popular Macintosh PC.
  • Windows 2000

    Windows 2000
    Developed by Microsoft, Windows 2000 was a much improved Operating System over Windows 98. It was developed from a dramatically different code base. It was targetted for business oriented uses.
  • Windows ME

    Windows ME
    Developed by Microsoft, Windows ME (also called Windows Millenium) was a rather unsuccessful new version of Windows 98 and had a short shelf life. It was released just seven months after Windows 2000 and just a year before Windows XP.
  • MacOS X Version 10.0

    MacOS X Version 10.0
    Developed by Apple Computer, Inc., MacOS X Version 10.0 dramatically changed the user interface for Apple’s Macinstosh users.
  • Windows Xp

    Windows Xp
    Developed by Microsoft, Windows XP was an enhanced version of Windows 2000 code base. XP became widely popular and is used extensively today, despite the release of Windows Vista. PRICE: $99
  • Windows Server 2003

    Windows Server 2003
    Developed by Microsoft as an improved version of their NT OS PRICE: $133
  • Windows Vista

    Windows Vista
    Developed by Microsoft, Windows Vista has been slow in taking off. However, Microsoft has enacted various marketing gimmicks, such as making XP a more expensive alternative for end users, to push users into their latest OS. PRICE: $332
  • Windows Server 2008

    Windows Server 2008
    Developed by Microsoft as an upgrade to Windows Server 2003.