History of Operating Systems

Operating system is evolving through the years. In the following section we will briefly look at a few of the highlights.

First Generation (1945 – 1955)

First generation digital computers have no operating systems. As the computers are primitive the programs are often entered one bit at a time on rows of mechanical switches. Programming languages were not used and operating systems are unheard in this era. All programming was done by using the
machine language, often by wiring up plug boards to control the machine’s basic functions.

In 1950 with the introduction to punch card routine were improved. Therefore it was now possible to write programs on cards and read them in instead of using plug boards.

Second Generation (1955 – 1965)

A new era was begun with the introduction of the transistor in mid 1950s. The computers became reliable and able to manufactured and sold to the customers. These machines are called mainframes, which stored in air conditioned computer rooms which can be operate by professionals.

First operating system was developed in IBM 1701 by General Motors Research Laboratory. And programmers use FORTRAN or assembler to write programs on punch cards.

Large second generation computers were used mostly for scientific and engineering calculations, such as solving the partial differential equations that often occur in physics and engineering.

Third Generation (1965 - 1980)

Integrated circuits are introduced with the third generation computers. And also in this period new techniques are introduced, such as multi programming,spooling and time sharing. Where multi programming / multitasking means two or more programs are running simultaneously within a computer. Therefore memory is extended to hold 3, 4 or more programs and switch among all of them. Load a new job from the disk in to the new-empty partition and run it is called as spooling. Time sharing is a variant of multi programming, in which each user has an online terminal.

Fourth Generation (beyond 1980)

Introduce personal computers and user friendly operating systems to the market. In early 1980s, IBM has designed IBM PC. Then Disk Operating System (DOS) was the first operating system which was run on IBM PC. Then Bill Gates introduced Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) to the users.

By the invention of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) Microsoft Company introduced a new operating system called Windows to the market. By adding new features to the Windows operating system evolves over time. Hence new versions were released such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows NT, and Windows Me to the market. Currently Windows Vista is developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers. This version contains new features which is not available in previous versions.

Other than Windows operating systems, UNIX is another type of operating system. This operating system is more used to workstations, high-end computers such as network servers. By using the X Windows system on top of the UNIX the users will get the same look and feel as the Ms Windows. With the new development new network operating systems and distributed operating systems have introduce to the market.