In this article I’m going to help you finally make sense of what for most people is one of the most confusing and least understood basic computer terms around: “operating system”, or “OS”.
This is actually a pretty easy idea to get when it’s explained right.
Now what is an operating system, or OS? First off, it’s is a type of software. To recap my explanation from my last newsletter article:
“Software” is all of the parts of the computer that you can’t really see or touch. Software would include things like Microsoft Word, your email program, Windows or the Mac OS, plus all of your personal files like letters, photos, music, and more.
One way to think about it is like this: hardware is like your brain, the physical part of your body, while software is like your mind or your thoughts — the non-physical part of yourself.
Software runs on hardware, just like your thoughts “run on” your brain.
Make sense? So let’s get to the OS specifically…
Posted by announcer in Computers, General, Reference
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