Chapter 4
Who Is the Master?
The operating system (OS) is the master program that runs on your computer, be it a smartphone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. The operating system controls all aspects of a computer and makes it functional as well as usable by people (See Figure 1.7 in Chapter 1). The OS brings life to the innate electronic hardware components and orchestrates all activities on a computer. The same hardware under a different operating system is literally a different computer.
4.1 What Is an Operating System?
The operating system is software that controls and serves all things on a computer, including users, applications (apps 1 ), display, I/O (input/output) devices, memory, communication network, files, and security. Operating systems ...
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