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The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of operating systems. Please see the individual products' articles for further information.
The tables specifically do not include subjective viewpoints on the merits of each operating system. For this kind of information, please see operating system advocacy.
Due to the size and variety in differing Linux distributions available, a separate article compares different Linux distributions. See Comparison of Linux distributions.
General
Basic general information about the oeprating systems: creator/company, license/price etc.
|
| Creator
| First public release date
| Predecessor
| Stable version
| Cost (US Dollars)
| Preferred License2
| Target Audience
|
| BeOS
| Be
| November 1996
| None
| 5.03
| $49 Professional, Free Personal
| Proprietary
| Home Desktop, Media creators
|
| FreeBSD
| The FreeBSD Project
| December 1993
| 386BSD
| 5.3
| Free
| BSD
| Server, Enthusiast
|
| Linux
|
|
| Mac OS
| Apple
| January 1984
| None1
| 9.2
| Free (http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html) up to 7.6.1, 9.2 is $20 for Mac OS X owners
| Proprietary
| Artists, Designers, Home Desktop
|
| Mac OS X
| Apple
| March 2001
| OPENSTEP
| 10.3 (Panther)
| $129 or bundled
| Proprietary
Partially open source (APSL)
| Artists, Designers, Home Desktop, Music creators
|
| NetBSD
| The NetBSD project
| May 1993
| 386BSD
| 2.0
| Free
| BSD
| Server, Enthusiast
|
| OpenBSD
| OpenBSD project
| October 1995
| NetBSD
| 3.6
| Free
| BSD
| Server, Enthusiast, Security Professional
|
| OpenVMS
| Digital Equipment Corporation
(now Hewlett Packard)
| February 1978
| RSX-11M
| 8.2
(current version)
| Free for non-commercial use
| Hobbyist, Proprietary
| Server, Enthusiast, Secure Domain, Batch, Fully-Shared Clustering
|
| Netware
| Novell
| January 1983
| S-Net
| 6.5
(current version)
| ?
| Proprietary
| Server, Secure Domain, Clustering
|
| Solaris
| Sun
| July 1992
| SunOS
| 10
| Free
| Proprietary
| Server, Business Desktop
|
| Windows 2000
| Microsoft
| February 2000
| Windows NT
| SP4
| ?
| Proprietary
| Business Desktop, Server
|
| Windows XP
| Microsoft
| October 2001
| Windows 2000
| SP2
| $99 (Home)
$199 (Pro)
| Proprietary
| Home and Business Desktop
|
|
| Creator
| First public release date
| Predecessor
| Stable version
| Cost (US Dollars)
| Preferred License2
| Target Audience
|
1 Although Lisa OS ran on the same microprocessor and was being developed at the same time by the same company as Mac OS, very little code was shared between the two. [1] (http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Hungarian.txt)
2 Most OS distributions include bundled software with various other licenses.
Technical
Information on technical aspects of the operating systems.
|
| Kernel type
| Default file system
| Other major file systems supported
| Architectural support
(first, primary platform)
| Default online OS update tool
| Default package management/
software installation tool
| Main API and language
for GUI applications
| Main API and language
for textual/CLI applications
|
| BeOS
| Microkernel/
Monolithic
hybrid
| BFS
| ext2, FAT, NTFS, UDF, ISO 9660, HFS
| x86, PPC
| SoftwareValet
| SoftwareValet
| Be API
| Be API with C++
(POSIX conforming)
|
| FreeBSD
| Module-loading
monolithic
| UFS2
| ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS
| x86, Alpha, x86-64, IA64, MIPS, PC98, SPARC64
| By source (CVSup)
| packages, ports tree
| Various (no default)
| BSD with C, various other
(POSIX conforming)
|
| Linux
|
|
| Mac OS
| Nanokernel
| HFS/HFS+
| ISO 9660, UDF
| PPC, 68K
| Software Update
| Apple Installer
| Carbon
| N/A
|
| Mac OS X
| Microkernel/
Monolithic
hybrid
(XNU)
| HFS+
| UFS, AFP, ISO 9660, FAT, UDF, NFS, NTFS
| PPC
| Software Update
| Installer
| Cocoa/Application Kit
Carbon
| Cocoa/Foundation Kit with Objective-C
|
| NetBSD
| Monolithic
| UFS
| ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, NFS
| x86, 40+ others
| By source (CVS) or (FTP)
| packages (pkg_add),
pkgsrc tree
| Various (no default)
| BSD with C, various other
(POSIX conforming)
|
| OpenBSD
| Monolithic
| UFS
| ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, NFS
| x86, Alpha, x86-64, HP3000, PA-RISC, Mac/VME 68k, VME 88k, PPC, SPARC, SPARC64, VAX
| By source (CVS) or (FTP)
| packages (pkg_add),
ports tree
| Various (no default)
| BSD with C, various other
(POSIX conforming)
|
| OpenVMS
| Privilege ring,
modular-subsystem,
real time kernel
| Files-11
| ISO 9660, NFS
| VAX, Alpha, IA64, CHARON-VAX Emulator
| http://www1.sqp.com
| PCSI
VMSINSTALL
| Various
(language neutral,
no default),
CDE
| Various
(language neutral,
no default),
ANSI VT100
|
| Netware
| Microkernel/
Monolithic
hybrid
| NSS
| ISO 9660, FAT, NFS, AFP, UDF, NWFS
| x86
| http://download.novell.com
| nwconfig, ConsoleOne
| Java
| x86 assembly language, Netware API with C
|
| Solaris
| Module-loading
Monolithic
| UFS/ZFS
| ext2, FAT, NTFS, ISO 9660, UDF, NFS
| SPARC, SPARC64, x86, x86-64
| http://sunsolve.sun.com
| System V packages (pkgadd)
| Various (no default)
| SysV with C, various other
(POSIX conforming)
|
| Windows 2000
| Microkernel/
Monolithic
hybrid
| NTFS/FAT32
| ISO 9660, UDF
| x86,
| Windows Update
| Setup executable, Microsoft Installer
| Win32
MFC
.NET
| Win32
MFC
.NET
|
| Windows XP
| Microkernel/
Monolithic
hybrid
| NTFS
| FAT, ISO 9660, UDF
| x86,
| Windows Update
| Setup executable, Microsoft Installer
| Win32
MFC
.NET
| Win32
MFC
.NET
|
|
| Kernel type
| Default file system
| Other major file systems supported
| Architectural support
(first, primary platform)
| Default online OS update tool
| Default package management/
software installation tool
| Main API and language
for GUI applications
| Main API and language
for textual/CLI applications
|
Features
Information on features in the operating systems.
1 Graphics software is either kernel-based or can run as a user-level program.
See also
Reference
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