How many (major) operating systems are out there? (1 Viewer)

[Garrett Lundy]

Cobalt

 

[Scott H]

You have an odd list. You aknowledge it would be more technical to go into popular versions of Unix and Linux, and Mac OS Classic or OS X, so why bother with minor variants of Windows?

Darwin.

NeXT.

And Steven pointed out BeOS.

Amiga was pointed out but not included.

Btw, according to MIT, Apple is soon to become the worlds largest supplier of Unix-based operating systems.

 

[Iain Lambert]

mmm, NeXT. Lovely.

Why is it that its only now that systems are even starting to catch up with it? Those beauties were great little black boxes.

 

[Michael*K]

There are a few machines out there running Palm OS.

 

[Jason Handy]

There are a few machines out there running Palm OS

Really? I've never seen one .

 

[Steven K]

Windows for Workgroups was basically just Windows 3.1 with the TCPIP stack included. It allowed for limited networking.

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

I recall that Windows for Workgroups also had "32-bit file access" which was faster than Windows 3.1. Fast enough that it was preferred even in the absence of a networking environment.

 

[Ken Chan]

Some clarification required:
Are you considering OSes actually still in use (by more than a handful of people) or all OSes ever?
Are you considering OSes created for home use, or one that people can and do use at home (again by more than a handful of people)?
Seems like the most fair way to do it is consider requirements for software. For example, a lot of software runs on 95, 98, and ME (and 95B, 98SE, yada yada yada) -- I would group those together. Ignore the "compatibility modes", which are of course the modes in which you run the older OSes. So you end up with:
DOS
Windows 3.x (16-bit)
Windows 9x (95, 98, Me; 16/32-bit)
Windows NT, 2000, XP ("full" 32-bit)
Mac OS (before X)
Mac OS X
OS/2
Unix (mostly Linux and FreeBSD)
If you want to count every single "major" release, then of course Microsoft spend a lot more money on branding, box covers, and splash screens than everyone else put together; but that shouldn't let them overwhelm the list. There are at least 4 for DOS, 4 for Mac OS, and maybe dozens for the Unices.
If you want to count the old ones, there's Apple (II), Amiga, Commodore, Atari, Timex-Sinclair....
//Ken

 

[Thomas Newton]

A zillion variants of Windows make the list of "major OSes", and none of the mainframe and minicomputer OSes that businesses use for critical infrastructure make the list?
Something is wrong here.

 

[Brett DiMichele]

Thomas,
I Operate a Mainframe at work.. And I included MVS! And the
IBM OS2 Warp that we run as a tie in to the frame (for IPL's
and such!)
MVS is the major player..

 

[Wayne Bundrick]

Guys, Neil did say "for home use" at the top of this thread, so leave out the mainframes. Windows NT and 2000 were intended for business use, so they shouldn't be on the list. OS/2 may not count either.