Operating System's Features and Types

Operating System Characteristics

There are a variety of criteria, some of which can be used to compare operating systems. These are as follows:
Character-based or graphical user interface based
Single tasking or multitasking
Single threading or multithreading
Weak or strong security
8, 16, 32 and 64 bits processed at a time
Portable or not (a portable operating system is not dependent on a specific microprocessor.)
Proprietary or open (proprietary operating systems work only with one type of computer, open operating systems run on a variety of machines).


Types of Operating Systems

Desktop Operating Systems : Operating System that run on desktop computers are the least powerful and least secure operating systems. They are also the most common. Three common types are :
Windows,
Apple's System 8, or
Rapidly fading DOS.