Operating Systems & Applications Software Lesson 8

 What is an Operating System?  How many bytes is one megabyte? gigabyte?  How would you calculate the number of bits in 8 Kbytes? How many are there?

 Define software, OS software, and applications software.  Understand the history purpose of OS software.  Identify and categorize different types of software.

 Coordinates and controls all basic operations on the computer  Interface between the hardware and the software (some through the BIOS)  Manages the processing of application programs  Transfers data to/from disks  Handles all printer and keyboard functions

 A computer with no software loaded can do absolute nothing  Users rarely communicate directly with the computer hardware  Programmers deal with the hardware through the Operating System

 Without an OS users would have to know all of the technical commands/codes required to control and operate the equipment connected to the computer system  All programs must first go through the OS in order to access the hardware  OS may use the BIOS to interface with the hardware

 Apple Mac OS/X  Linux  Unix  Windows XP, Vista, 7

 1980: MS-DOS  1982: Windows 1.0  1987 – 1992: Windows 2.0 – 2.11  1990 – 1994: Windows 3.0, NT  1995 – 2001: Windows 95  1998 – 2000: Windows 98, 2000, Me  2001 – 2005: Windows XP  2006 – 2008: Windows Vista  2009 – Present: Windows 7

 History Timeline History Timeline

 Graphical User Interface (GUI)  Common User Access (CUA)  Clipboard: Cut/Copy/Paste  Multi-tasking or task switching  Run several programs or perform multiple tasks simultaneously  Object Linking and Embedding (OLE)

 Examples: Cell phones & Smart Phones  Computer in a typical modern cell phone is now more powerful than a desktop computer from 20 years ago  Operating systems are made out of portable code rather than permanent physical circuits is so that they can be changed or modified without having to scrap the whole device  Remember the ENIAC?

 Programs that allow you to make the computer do what you want  Write a letter, browse the Internet, draw a picture, etc.  Depends on the operating system  Applications that run on one operating system (Windows) cannot run on a different operating system (Unix or MacOS) unless they are re- written

 Word Processors – MS Word, Google Docs  Spreadsheets – MS Excel, Google Spreadsheets  Presentations – MS PowerPoint, Google Presentation  Databases – MS Access  Communications – MS Outlook  Accounting – Peachtree, QuickBooks  Animation/Gaming – Alice, Gamemaker