Ahh...Computing! It is one of the things about modern times that I think has brought just so many benefits to this world that I can simply not think of a life without it.
Although, it's been made a fundamental part of modern society, it is important to recall a little bit of its history for understanding the reason behind its existance.
The journey from primitive calculating machines to the powerful informatics we have today is a story of innovation, collaboration, and intense competition. At its core is the operating system (OS), the foundational software that acts as the bridge between you and the complex hardware of your device.
While machines like the abacus or Charles Babbage's Analytical Engine were precursors, the first electronic, general-purpose digital computer as we understand it today was the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer), completed in 1945. This room-sized machine, filled with vacuum tubes, was a marvel of its time, designed to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army.
However, ENIAC had no operating system. There was no keyboard, no mouse, and no screen. "Programming" it meant physically rewiring it by plugging cables and setting thousands of switches, a process that could take days to set up a single problem. The "software" was inseparable from the hardware configuration. Early systems that followed introduced concepts like punch cards, but the idea of a central software manager was still years away. The first rudimentary OS-like systems emerged in the 1950s, such as GM-NAA I/O by General Motors for their IBM 704. These were essentially shared libraries that managed the complex input/output operations, a far cry from a modern OS.
The true revolution began with the concepts of time-sharing and multitasking, which were pioneered by systems like Multics in the 1960s. This experimental OS, developed at MIT, allowed multiple users to connect to a single mainframe computer simultaneously. Though commercially unsuccessful, its ideas were profoundly influential.
Two Bell Labs developers who worked on Multics, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, went on to create a simpler, more elegant system in 1969: UNIX. This is arguably the most important ancestor of modern operating systems. Written in the C programming language, UNIX was portable, stable, and powerful. Its hierarchical file system, command-line interface, and multitasking capabilities became the standard. Its influence is so vast that its design philosophy underpins macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS.
The arrival of the personal computer (PC) in the late 1970s and early 1980s shifted the focus from large, multi-user systems to single-user machines. This is where the three main branches of modern desktop operating systems diverged.
Microsoft Windows
Predecessor: MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System).
In 1980, IBM needed an OS for its upcoming PC. Microsoft, then a small company, bought an existing OS called 86-DOS (also known as the "Quick and Dirty Operating System") from a small Seattle-based company. Microsoft rebranded it as MS-DOS and licensed it to IBM, who called it PC-DOS.
The crucial part of the deal was that Microsoft retained the right to sell MS-DOS to other computer manufacturers. As other companies "cloned" the IBM PC, MS-DOS became the industry standard, making Microsoft a dominant force.
Early versions of Windows (1.0 through 3.1) were not true operating systems but graphical shells that ran on top of MS-DOS. The big leap came with Windows 95, which integrated DOS and Windows into a more unified 32-bit system. The other major branch was Windows NT (New Technology), built from scratch to be a secure, stable OS for businesses. Modern versions like Windows 11 are direct descendants of the Windows NT kernel, having long since abandoned their MS-DOS roots.
Apple macOS
Predecessor: Classic Mac OS and NeXTSTEP.
The original Apple Macintosh, launched in 1984, popularized the Graphical User Interface (GUI) with its Mac OS. While revolutionary, its technical foundation was aging by the mid-1990s. After several failed attempts to create a modern successor, Apple made a stunning move in 1997: it acquired NeXT, a company founded by Steve Jobs after he was ousted from Apple.
This was less a legal battle and more a strategic acquisition. By buying NeXT for its advanced, UNIX-based operating system, NeXTSTEP, Apple not only acquired the foundation for its future but also brought Steve Jobs back to the helm.
Apple engineers merged the user-friendly elements of the classic Mac OS with the powerful UNIX-based core of NeXTSTEP. The result, launched in 2001, was Mac OS X. This gave macOS the stability and power of UNIX with the elegance of Apple's design. Today's macOS is a direct, refined descendant of that monumental merger.
Linux Distributions
In 1991, a Finnish student named Linus Torvalds began developing a new operating system kernel as a hobby. He was inspired by MINIX, a small educational version of UNIX. He wanted to create a free and open-source UNIX-like kernel that could run on standard PC hardware. He posted his project online, and a global community of developers began to contribute.
Linux itself is just the kernel—the core part of the OS that manages the hardware. To become a usable system, it needed other software: compilers, text editors, and system utilities. This is where the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation come in. The Linux kernel is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), which ensures it remains free and open source.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF)
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a non-profit organization founded in 1985 by Richard Stallman. Its mission is to promote and defend "free software."
It's crucial to understand that "free" here refers to freedom, not price ("free as in speech, not as in beer"). The FSF defines four essential freedoms for software users:
1) The freedom to run the program for any purpose.
2) The freedom to study how the program works and change it.
3) The freedom to redistribute copies.
4) The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
Before Linus Torvalds started his kernel, Richard Stallman had already started the GNU Project in 1983 to build a complete, free UNIX-compatible operating system. By 1991, the GNU project had created almost all the necessary components except for the kernel. The combination of the Linux kernel with the existing GNU software suite created a complete, free OS. This is why the FSF and its supporters often refer to the operating system as GNU/Linux. The FSF's primary legal tool is the GPL, a "copyleft" license that requires any derivative work to also be licensed under the GPL, legally ensuring the software and its modifications remain free forever.
The Modern Mobile Age: Android and iOS
In the early 2000s, the mobile OS landscape was fragmented. The leaders were Symbian OS (powering Nokia phones), BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, and Palm OS. These systems were functional for their time but were often clunky, not designed for touch input, and lacked the robust app ecosystems we know today.
Everything changed in 2007 with the launch of the iPhone.
iOS (originally iPhone OS) was a game-changer. It was a scaled-down version of Mac OS X, giving it a powerful and stable UNIX core. Its true genius was its revolutionary multi-touch interface, designed from the ground up for a fluid user experience. The launch of the App Store in 2008 solidified its dominance by creating a centralized, safe, and easy-to-use platform for third-party applications.
At the same time, a new challenger was emerging.
Android began as a startup that Google acquired in 2005. Built on top of the Linux kernel, Android was developed as an open-source platform. Google formed the Open Handset Alliance with hardware manufacturers, allowing any company to use and modify Android for free. This open strategy led to a rapid proliferation of Android devices at all price points, eventually securing it the largest market share globally. A significant legal battle in its history was Oracle (which had acquired Sun Microsystems, the creator of Java) suing Google for its use of Java APIs in Android, a multi-billion dollar legal fight that spanned over a decade.
By the early 2010s, the revolutionary user experience of iOS and the open, versatile nature of Android had completely reshaped the market, leaving the old guard behind and establishing the smartphone duopoly that continues into 2025.