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This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime.

Glossary Entry: Operating System

Definition

An operating system is the software layer that works as a middleman between the computer's hardware and the programs you run - in other words, it's the underlying software that operates the system.

Today, there are three major operating system families - Microsoft Windows, MacOS, and Linux. Each of these operating systems provides basic services in their own way, so programs designed for one operating system family cannot be run on operating systems from another family without some form of third party support.


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