What Is An Operating System?

An operating system (OS) is a collection of computer features and functions that control the hardware and software sharing of a computer. An operating system executes the raw system and customer input and replies by giving and maintaining tasks and internal system resources as a work and facility to customers and programs of the computer system. At the base of all system software, an operating system does some of the elementary and essential tasks such as managing and giving memory, prioritizing system demands, controlling send and receive devices, giving advantage to the networking and controlling file systems. A lot of operating systems come with an application that facilitates an interface to the OS performed resources.

These applications have contained command line interpreters as an elementary user interface, but additional recently have been put into practice as a graphical user interface (GUI) for no difficulty of operation. Operating Systems themselves have no consumer interfaces; the customer of an OS is a request, not a person. The operating system forms a display place for additional system software and for request software. Windows, Linux, and Mac OS are a number of the most accepted OS's.

An operating system is a program which makes your computer functional and usable by a human being.

Without it, you would have to perform thousands of very low level operations even to do very simple things.  An operating system performs these for you by providing simpler high level features.

Example, let's say you want to move a picture from your camera to your computer.  Without an operating system, you would need to know the characteristics of the camera interface and your hard drive.  You need to know what sectors you store the data in and write that information somewhere.  You need to move each bit of data and do error checking as the file is moved.  And you need to do this concurrently with all the other things your computer is doing.  An operating system lets you treat this whole operation as a 'move file' or a drag and drop without all these complications.

There are computers that run without an operating system.  A household appliance with an embedded computer would be an example.  But these do very limited tasks.

An operating system in terms of computing is the basic software that enables a computer to operate. For example, Windows XP, Windows Vista or Mac OSX.

The operating system is the DNA of the computer, the building blocks or blue print that allows the computer to be more than an expensive collection of silicon chips and circuits. The operating system, then, is the brain, the nervous systems and connections that makes a computer function and allow it to run software and do lots of useful stuff.

Although an operating system has some applications and tools built-in, for example, Windows Movie Maker and System Restore in Windows, the operating system is essentially what lurks underneath the hood running the whole show. It should not be confused with software which is designed to carry out a particular task, MS Word for instance, which would not work without the operating system being present.

Operating system is the first software required by the machine. ROM searches for an operating system and transfers the control to the operating system, it finds in the machine. After taking over the control of the machine, operating system boots up the machine. Now the machine is managed and controlled by this OS, and it is responsible for the overall functions of the machine. Operating system is like an interface between the user and the machine. Every operating system contains a language for communication between the machine and the user. Through this language (commands), a user orders computer, what is to be done, that is called the job control language (JCL).

According to interface (the method of input and output), operating systems can be categorized as text/character based interfaces (T/CBI), in which commands are written by user to perform a certain job. Another type of interface is graphical user interface (GUI) in which commands are already written or shown in the form of small pictures, called icons. In these systems a user needs to select operation, he wants to perform; there is need of writing the commands. This interface is very popular today, as it is user-friendly.
` Operating systems are also categorized as propriety and Generic operating systems.

Operating system is a kind of software that interacts with the hardware make it work as per the end user's instructions. Without an OS, the hardware is like a deaf and dumb. Just imagine this situation. U want to speak to a Chinese and u know only english and the Chinese person is not knowing english. The dialogue can happen only with a mediator who knows both Chinese and English and translate the things both ways. Similarly, the hardware can understand only "machine language" and as a basic end user all we know may be key strokes or mouse clicks. So there comes an Operating system to mediate.

This is just a basic snapshot what I had given. U can learn more at en.wikipedia.org

Operating system is the fuel for computer......as we can't survive without oxygen..computer also can't work without OS...operating system is the support for hardware of computer parts..

An operating system is a primary software on our computer .the operating system (o.s.) has a driver for hardware and basic software which is essential to runs any additional software, which i want to install.
               the  operating system is a interface between user and he computer.

It is a set of software that controls the hardware of the computer and provides an interface between the computer and the computer user.

  it is  system that have all the information that your pc needs to start

  also, it have the your system '' windows xp or vista ''

Well! You should know about dis ....operating system is a system of a computer is dat bla bla bla..... :P