When a computer is turned on, a person is made aware instantly that they are in control. A computer has a mouse which allows an individual to move anywhere on the computer screen which allows them to execute applications such as visiting the high speed internet connection by mycricket.com or listening to their music library. All of these commands come about by technology called the operating system.
An operating system functions to manage software and hardware resources within a system. On a cell phone these resources include the network connection, the battery, the phone dialer, the address book, the screen and the keypad. On the desktop computer the resources include the disk space, memory, the processor and more. The operating system supplies a consistent, stable way in which applications handle the hardware without having to comprehend all to the hardware details. Most laptop or desktop computers are available pre-loaded with a system known as Microsoft Windows. Mac OS X is pre-loaded on Macintosh computers. Many of the corporate servers use the UNIX or Linux operating systems. The operating system is the first thing that is loaded on a computer and without this the computer is not able to be used.
Operating systems have begun to show up in smaller computers, as well as the bigger ones. Operating systems are a part of many electronic devices currently used today, such as wireless access points to cell phones. The computers utilized in these smaller devices are very powerful and can run primarily on application and operating systems. The average cell phone that has a computer is more powerful than most desktop computers that were used 20years ago, but one of the challenges that developers face today with their operating system is making them flexible enough so they can run hardware from vendors that manufacture computer equipment.