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Operating Systems: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
What an OS Does
An operating system manages a computer’s hardware and runs your apps. It decides which program gets the processor, memory and storage, and when.
Key fact
Your phone and your laptop both run an operating system.
The Big Names
Windows dominates desktop PCs, Android runs most of the world’s phones, and Apple makes macOS and iOS. Linux powers most web servers.
Key fact
Android runs on about 7 in 10 smartphones worldwide.
Files & Folders
Operating systems organise data into files and folders, like a filing cabinet. A file’s extension, like .jpg or .pdf, hints at what’s inside.
Key fact
The “folder” idea copies real office filing.
Multitasking
Your computer seems to do many things at once. The OS switches the processor between tasks thousands of times a second, and multi-core chips truly run several at once.
Key fact
Most modern phones have processors with six or more cores.
Linux & Open Source
Linus Torvalds released Linux in 1991 as a free, open-source system. Anyone can read and improve its code, and it now runs servers, supercomputers and Android phones.
Key fact
All of the world’s top 500 supercomputers run Linux.
Updates
Operating system updates fix bugs, add features and patch security holes. Putting them off leaves known weaknesses open to attackers.
Key fact
Many updates fix holes that attackers already know about.
From Commands to Windows
Early computers were controlled by typed commands. Windows, icons and a mouse, pioneered at Xerox PARC, went mainstream with the Apple Macintosh in 1984.
Key fact
Windows 95 introduced the Start button in 1995.
Fun facts
The first computer “operators” were people, who loaded programs one at a time by hand. Operating systems took over their job.
The first version of Windows, released in 1985, couldn’t even let windows overlap.
The “save” icon is still a floppy disk, though many people who click it have never seen one.
Unlike computers, people don’t truly multitask: we switch between tasks, and lose a little time with every switch.
Linux’s mascot is a penguin called Tux. Torvalds said he’d once been nipped by a penguin at a zoo.
Many cars now get software updates over the air, just like phones.
The first Macintosh had just 128 KB of memory.
Story: Just a Hobby
Just a Hobby
August 1991. Linus Torvalds, a 21-year-old student in Helsinki, posts online about the system he’s writing: “just a hobby, won’t be big and professional”.
He wanted to call it Freax. The friend who put the code on a university server named the folder “linux” instead, and the name stuck.
Thousands of volunteers joined in, and a student’s hobby became some of the most widely used software on Earth.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
An operating system manages the computer’s hardware.
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True. It shares it out between apps.
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Question 2 of 10
Android runs most of the world’s smartphones.
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True. About 7 in 10.
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Question 3 of 10
A .jpg file is usually an image.
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True. JPEG is a common photo format.
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Question 4 of 10
Operating systems switch rapidly between tasks.
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True. So fast it feels simultaneous.
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Question 5 of 10
Linux is open source.
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True. Its code is free to read, use and change.
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Question 6 of 10
Operating system updates often fix security holes.
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True. That’s one of their main jobs.
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Question 7 of 10
The Apple Macintosh helped popularise windows and icons.
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True. In 1984, it brought them to ordinary users.
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Question 8 of 10
Apps on a phone run without any operating system.
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False. Android or iOS runs underneath them.
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Question 9 of 10
iPhones run Android.
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False. They run Apple’s iOS.
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Question 10 of 10
Renaming a file’s extension changes what’s inside it.
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False. It only changes the label, not the contents.
Keep going in the app
KnowSoda learns what you know and brings back what you’re about to forget. Operating Systems has 6 more ideas at the Advanced and Expert levels.
