Operating systems

An operating system (OS) is a collection of software that manages device hardware and provides common services, which allow programs to run on a device, be it a mobile phone or a personal computer.

The operating system acts as an intermediary between programs and the computer hardware, and thus, operating systems can be found on almost any device that contains a computer—from cellular phones and video game consoles to supercomputers and web servers.

The revolution of personal computers (PC) began with the introduction of BASIC and DOS Operating Systems. These operating systems ran on terminals composed of a case containing the main hardware, a monochromatic screen, and a keyboard. All these fit on a common desk, allowing computers to enter people's houses.

At that time, software used to run on magnetic tapes or on a number of 5'1/4" disks. The following image shows an old school PC of the early '80s:

The PC became an object of common use with the introduction of visual environments made of icons that could be processed with the use of a device called mouse. This solution turned operations into metaphors of real world actions: select and drag an icon to move a file, single-clicks to select contents, and double-clicks to open them.

The main advantage of this new approach to computing was that it didn't need an expert to use a computer for basic operations. Anyone could use a PC!

The evolution of visual interfaces led to touch interfaces, made possible with the introduction of screens that could process touch actions directly on the screens of the devices. This system allows users to use their fingers instead of the mouse of desktop PCs, thus triggering a revolution in user interfaces and user experience, as well as offering the possibility of developing devices, such as tablets and smartphones, that could handle the same basic operations available on a desktop PC on a smaller mobile device.

At present, the computing environment is dominated by a few operating systems. For mobile devices, there are iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Java ME, and BlackBerry. BREW and Bada, which used to be quite popular, are now out of the race.

Each OS has distinctive characteristics and a development story of its own. So before we start talking about mobile development, we will provide you with an overview on each one of them.