OS, King Of The Programs, 2-12-06

OS, king of the programs

By Dave Moore

Comments received from readers of last week’s column have shown me that a few basic computer concepts and terms need clarification.  After reading my discussion of Apple’s OS X operating system, some readers still didn’t really know what an operating system was.  So, lets take a look at the almighty operating system.

In order to function, computers need “master” programs called “operating systems (OS).”  Prominent operating systems include Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, Linux, Unix, Novell Netware, and Sun Solaris.  Operating systems are the big boss, the king of programs, in that they tell all of the other programs, such as word processors, music programs and the like how to interact with each other, and how to interact with the computer’s hardware.

Hardware that must be managed by the OS includes the keyboard, mouse, the motherboard (a computers main group of circuits), internal random-access memory (RAM), hard and floppy drives, printers and video display units (monitors).  If your computer were a football team, then the operating system would be the head coach, coordinating all of the team’s assets to achieve the desired goal of winning the game.

When you type on your keyboard, the OS takes this action, uses the hardware and software of the computer, and translates this “input” into “output,” i.e., the letter that you pressed on the keyboard appears on the monitor.   In the old days of computing, computers did not have video monitors to display the computer’s output.  Instead, users had to interpret the meaning of rows of blinking lights, or, if you were really fancy, you had a printer that displayed the computer’s output.  Without the advent of the video display, the computer “revolution” probably would not have occurred.

Another major responsibility of the operating system is to manage what’s known as the “file system.”  Analogous to an office’s filing cabinet, drawers, and folders, almost all information in a computer is stored in files, which are groups of data that can be given names.  If you type a document and “save” it, you give it a name, and that document becomes a file.  If you take a picture with your digital camera, or songs downloaded from the Internet, and transfer those items to your computer, those items are named, and become files.
 
File systems have been the subject of much debate over the years, with each manufacturer claiming superiority.  Microsoft’s file systems have gone through various mutations, giving us the “NT” file system used today by Windows 2000 and XP (Microsoft never has explained what the “NT” stands for).  NTFS, while better than its predecessors, is still inferior to the file systems used by Unix, Linux, and OS X.  Microsoft promised to remedy this situation with the release of its new operating system, now code-named “Vista,” which was first due to be released in 2005.  Recent announcements have pushed back the release of Vista, and the new WinFS file system into 2007, or even later.