History of Operating Systems

Generations of OSes

Before 1940s: No OS
- Manual machine language input; limited accessibility due to expertise.
1940s-50s: Batch Processing
- Introduction of punch card-based programming; sequential job processing.
1950s-60s: Multiprogramming
- Simultaneous programs in memory; efficient CPU utilization during I/O.
1960s-70s: Time-Sharing
- CPU time shared among programs at intervals; interactive computing.
1970s-80s: Introduction of GUI
- Adoption of GUIs with icons, menus, and user-friendly interfaces.
1980s-90s: Networked Systems
- Specialized OSs for computer networks; file sharing and remote access.
Late 1990s - Early 2000s: Mobile OS
- Emergence of mobile OSs like iOS and Android for touchscreen devices.
2010s-Ongoing: AI Integration
- Integration of AI features (e.g., Siri, Google Assistant, Alexa).

Timeline

Early Computers

Abacus
Napier's Bones
Jacquard's Loom
Analytical Engine and Difference Engine

Early Pre-Modern

EDVAC Series
EDSAC Series
UNIVAC Series
IBM Series

From 1965

MULTICS
UNICS (for PDP-11)
- UNIX
Virtual VAX or Virtual UNIX (for VAX)

1971

Research Unix

Research Unix Version 1
Research Unix Version 2
Research Unix Version 3
Research Unix Version 4
Research Unix Version 5
Research Unix Version 6
Research Unix Version 7
- UNIX/32V
- UNIX/V7M
Research Unix Version 8 (based on 4.1cBSD)
Research Unix Version 9
Research Unix Version 10
Plan 9

1981

Commercial UNIX (After Research Unix Version 7)

UNIX System III (based on Research Unix Version 7)
UNIX System V
- System V Release 1
- System V Release 2
- System V Release 3
- System V Release 4
- System V Release 4.2
UnixWare
- UnixWare 1.1.1
UnixWare 2.0
UnixWare 7
Open Unix 8 (UnixWare 7.1.2)
SCO UnixWare 7.1.3

Other Commercial OSes

Xenix
Solaris
SunOS
HP-UX

BSDs

1BSD (based on Research Unix Version 6)
2BSD (PDP-11) (based on Research Unix Version 7)
3BSD (VAX) (based on UNIX/32V)
4BSD
4.1BSD
- 4.1aBSD (BBN's TCP/IP implementation)
- 4.1bBSD (Berkeley Fast File System)
- 4.1cBSD
4.2BSD
4.3BSD-Tahoe
4.3BSD Net/1 (based on 4.3BSD-Tahoe)
4.3BSD-Reno
4.3BSD Net/2 (based on 4.3BSD-Reno)
4.4BSD-Alpha
4.4BSD-Lite
4.4BSD-Lite Release 2

386BSD (Pre-Lawsuit)

386BSD / Jolix (based on 4.3BSD Net/2)
BSD/386 / BSD/OS / BSDi by BSDi (based on 4.3BSD Net/2)

1983

GNU (started, during the time of 4.2BSD, Research Unix Version 8 and UNIX System III)

1992

Linux Kernel (released)
GNU on Linux

1993 (BSD lawsuit finished)

386BSDs

386BSD
BSD/386 (BSDi) 1.0
386BSD 2.0
BSD/OS (BSDi) 2.0
386BSD 3.0
BSD/OS (BSDi) 3.0
BSD/OS (BSDi) 4.0
BSD/OS (BSDi) 4.3
BSD/OS (BSDi) 5.0
BSD/OS (BSDi) 5.1

Modern BSDs

FreeBSD (From BSD386 and 4.4BSD-Lite)
NetBSD (From BSD386 and 4.4BSD-Lite)
OpenBSD (From BSD386 and 4.4BSD-Lite)

Apple

Apple UA/X
NeXTSTEP 1.0 (based on 4.3BSD-Tahoe)
NeXTSTEP 2.0 (based on 4.3BSD-Reno)
NeXTSTEP 3.0 (based on 4.4BSD)

2000

Apple Darwin (From NeXTSTEP, 4.4BSD-Lite2, FreeBSD and Mac OS)
Apple Mac OS X

2004

DragonflyBSD (From FreeBSD)

Timeline, Longer Brief

From EDVAC (1951)

[1951] EDSAC
[1955] GMOS for IBM 701
[1955] MIT Tape Director OS for UNIVAC 1103
[1961] MIT CTSS for IBM 7094
[1962] GECOS
IBM OS/360 for IBM S/360
IBM BOS/360 for IBM S/360
IBM TOS/360 for IBM S/360
MULTICS for GE-640
IBM DOS/360
IBM OS/360 PCP and MFT

From UNIX (1969)

Unics for DEC
Xerox OS
DOS-11 for the PDP-11
CP/M
UNIX Version 6
Cray

From BSD (1977)

1BSD
2BSD
Apple DOS
Atari DOS
3BSD
UNIX Version 7
UNIX 32/V

From MS-DOS (1981)

MS-DOS
Commodore DOS
Sun UNIX (later SunOS) 0.7
UNIX System III

From GNU (1983)

GNU
Novell NetWare (S-Net)
SunOS 1.0

From Mac OS (1984)

Mac OS (System 1.0)
AmigaOS
Atari TOS
SunOS 2.0
Unix Version 8

From Windows (1985)

Windows 1.0
Windows 1.01
Xenix 2.0
AIX 1.0
Genera 7.0
HP-UX
SunOS 3.0
Unix Version 9
MINIX 1.0
OS/2 1.0
Windows 2.0
A/UX
Mac OS
OS/2 1.1
SunOS 4.0
NeXTSTEP 1.0
OS/2 1.2
Unix Version 10
Xenix 2.3.4
AIX 3.0
AmigaOS 2.0
BeOS
Novell NetWare 3
Windows 3.0
Linux 0.1
Mac OS (System 7)
MINIX 1.5
Trusted Xenix
386BSD 0.1
Amiga Unix 2.01
AmigaOS 3.0
BSD/386 by BSDi
BSD/OS
OpenVMS V1.0
OS/2 2.0
Plan 9 First Edition

From GNU/Linux (1992)

SLS
Solaris 2.0
Windows 3.1

From FreeBSD (1993)

FreeBSD
NetBSD
Novell NetWare 4
OS/2 2.1
Slackware 1.0 (based on SLS)
Windows NT 3.1
AIX 4.0
AIX 4.1
IBM
NetBSD 1.0
Red Hat
OpenBSD
Plan 9 Second Edition
Windows 95
AIX 4.2
Debian 1.1
OS/2 Warp 4.0
Palm OS
Windows NT 4.0
Windows CE 1.0
AIX 4.3
Inferno
Mac OS 8
MINIX 2.0
Windows CE 2.0
Novell NetWare 5
Solaris 7
Windows 98
AROS
Inferno Second Edition
Mac OS 9
OS/2 Warp 4.5
RISC OS 4
Windows 98 (2nd edition)

Timeline Master

1950s

1951

LEO I 'Lyons Electronic Office' was the commercial development of EDSAC computing platform, supported by British firm J. Lyons and Co.

1955

General Motors Operating System made for IBM 701
MIT's Tape Director operating system made for UNIVAC 1103

1956

GM-NAA I/O for IBM 704, based on General Motors Operating System

1957

Atlas Supervisor (Manchester University) (Atlas computer project start)
BESYS (Bell Labs), for IBM 704, later IBM 7090 and IBM 7094

1958

University of Michigan Executive System (UMES), for IBM 704, 709, and 7090

1959

SHARE Operating System (SOS), based on GM-NAA I/O

1960s

1960

IBSYS (IBM for its 7090 and 7094)

1961

CTSS demonstration (MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System for the IBM 7094)
MCP (Burroughs Master Control Program)

1962

Atlas Supervisor (Manchester University) (Atlas computer commissioned)
BBN Time-Sharing System
GCOS (GE's General Comprehensive Operating System, originally GECOS, General Electric Comprehensive Operating Supervisor)

1963

AN/FSQ-32, another early time-sharing system begun
CTSS becomes operational (MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System for the IBM 7094)
JOSS, an interactive time-shared system that did not distinguish between operating system and language
Titan Supervisor, early time-sharing system begun

1964

Berkeley Timesharing System (for Scientific Data Systems' SDS 940)
Chippewa Operating System (for CDC 6600 supercomputer)
Dartmouth Time Sharing System (Dartmouth College's DTSS for GE computers)
EXEC 8 (UNIVAC)
KDF9 Timesharing Director (English Electric) – an early, fully hardware secured, fully pre-emptive process switching, multi-programming operating system for KDF9 (originally announced in 1960)
OS/360 (IBM's primary OS for its S/360 series) (announced)
PDP-6 Monitor (DEC) descendant renamed TOPS-10 in 1970
SCOPE (CDC 3000 series)

1965

BOS/360 (IBM's Basic Operating System)
DECsys
TOS/360 (IBM's Tape Operating System)
Livermore Time Sharing System (LTSS)
Multics (MIT, GE, Bell Labs for the GE-645) (announced)
Pick operating system
THE multiprogramming system (Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven) development
TSOS (later VMOS) (RCA)

1966

DOS/360 (IBM's Disk Operating System)
GEORGE 1 & 2 for ICT 1900 series
MS/8 (Richard F. Lary's DEC PDP-8 system)
OS/360 (IBM's primary OS for its S/360 series) PCP and MFT (shipped)
RAX
Remote Users of Shared Hardware (RUSH), a time-sharing system developed by Allen-Babcock for the 360/50
SODA for Elwro's Odra 1204
Universal Time-Sharing System (XDS Sigma series)

1967

CP-40, predecessor to CP-67 on modified IBM System/360 Model 40
CP-67 (IBM, also known as CP/CMS)
Conversational Programming System (CPS), an IBM time-sharing system under OS/360
Michigan Terminal System (MTS)[5] (time-sharing system for the IBM S/360-67 and successors)
ITS (MIT's Incompatible Timesharing System for the DEC PDP-6 and PDP-10)
OS/360 MVT
ORVYL (Stanford University's time-sharing system for the IBM S/360-67)
TSS/360 (IBM's Time-sharing System for the S/360-67, never officially released, canceled in 1969 and again in 1971)
WAITS (SAIL, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, time-sharing system for DEC PDP-6 and PDP-10, later TOPS-10)

1968

Airline Control Program (ACP) (IBM)
CALL/360, an IBM time-sharing system for System/360
THE multiprogramming system (Eindhoven University of Technology) publication
TSS/8 (DEC for the PDP-8)
VP/CSS

1969

GEORGE 3 For ICL 1900 series
Multics (MIT, GE, Bell Labs for the GE-645 and later the Honeywell 6180) (opened for paying customers in October)
RC 4000 Multiprogramming System (RC)
TENEX (Bolt, Beranek and Newman for DEC systems, later TOPS-20)
Unics (later Unix) (AT&T, initially on DEC computers)
Xerox Operating System

1970s

1970

DOS-11 (PDP-11)

1971

EMAS
Kronos
RSTS-11 2A-19 (First released version; PDP-11)
RSX-15
OS/8

1972

COS-300
Data General RDOS
Edos
MUSIC/SP
OS/4
OS 1100
Operating System/Virtual Storage 1 (OS/VS1)
Operating System/Virtual Storage 2 R1 (OS/VS2 SVS)
PRIMOS (written in FORTRAN IV, that didn't have pointers, while later versions, around version 18, written in a version of PL/I, called PL/P)
Virtual Machine/Basic System Extensions Program Product (BSEPP or VM/SE)
Virtual Machine/System Extensions Program Product (SEPP or VM/BSE)
Virtual Machine Facility/370 (VM/370), sometimes known as VM/CMS

1973

Эльбрус-1 (Elbrus-1) – Soviet computer – created using high-level language uЭль-76 (AL-76/ALGOL 68)
Alto OS
CP-V (Control Program V)
RSX-11D
RT-11
VME – implementation language S3 (ALGOL 68)

1974

ACOS-2 (NEC)
ACOS-4
ACOS-6
CP/M
DOS-11 V09-20C (Last stable release, June 1974)
Hydra – capability-based, multiprocessing OS kernel
MONECS
Multi-Programming Executive (MPE) – Hewlett-Packard
Operating System/Virtual Storage 2 R2 (MVS)
OS/7
OS/16
OS/32
Sintran III

1975

BS2000 V2.0 (First released version)
COS-350
NOS (Control Data Corporation)
OS/3 (Univac)
VS/9 (formerly RCA's TSOS, later named VMOS)
Version 6 Unix
XVM/DOS
XVM/RSX

1976

Cambridge CAP computer – all operating system procedures written in ALGOL 68C, with some closely associated protected procedures in BCPL
Cray Operating System
DX10
FLEX
TOPS-20
TX990/TXDS
Tandem Nonstop OS v1

1977

1BSD
AMOS
KERNAL
OASIS operating system
OS4000
RMX-80
OS68
System Support Program (IBM System/34 and System/36)
TRSDOS
Virtual Memory System (VMS) V1.0 (Initial commercial release, October 25)

1978

2BSD
Apple DOS
Control Program Facility (IBM System/38)
Cray Time Sharing System (CTSS)
DPCX (IBM)
DPPX (IBM)
HDOS
KSOS – secure OS design from Ford Aerospace
KVM/370 – security retro-fit of IBM VM/370
Lisp machine (CADR)
MVS/System Extensions (MVS/SE)
OS4 (Naked Mini 4)
PTDOS
TRIPOS
UCSD p-System (First released version)

1979

Atari DOS
3BSD
Idris
MP/M
MVS/System Extensions R2 (MVS/SE2)
NLTSS
POS
Sinclair BASIC
Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) (IBM)
UCLA Secure UNIX – an early secure UNIX OS based on security kernel
UNIX/32V
DOS/VSE
Version 7 Unix

1980s

1980

86-DOS
AOS/VS (Data General)
Business Operating System
CTOS
MVS/System Product (MVS/SP) V1
NewDos/80
OS-9
RMX-86
RS-DOS
SOS
Virtual Machine/System Product (VM/SP)
Xenix

1981

Acorn MOS
Aegis SR1 (First Apollo/DOMAIN systems shipped on March 27)
CP/M-86
iMAX – OS for Intel's iAPX 432 capability machine
MCS (Multi-user Control System)
MS-DOS
PC DOS
Pilot (Xerox Star operating system)
UNOS
UTS
VRTX
Xinu first release

1982

Commodore DOS
LDOS (By Logical Systems, Inc. – for the Radio Shack TRS-80 Models I, II & III)
pSOS
QNX
Stratus VOS
Sun UNIX (later SunOS) 0.7
Ultrix
Unix System III

1983

Coherent
DNIX
EOS
GNU (project start)
Lisa Office System 7/7
LOCUS – UNIX compatible, high reliability, distributed OS
MVS/System Product V2 (MVS/Extended Architecture, MVS/XA)
Novell NetWare (S-Net)
PERPOS
ProDOS
RTU (Real-Time Unix)
STOP – TCSEC A1-class, secure OS for SCOMP hardware
SunOS 1.0
VSE/System Package (VSE/SP) Version 1

1984

AMSDOS
CTIX (Unix variant)
Mac OS (System 1.0)
MSX-DOS
PANOS
PC/IX
ROS
Sinclair QDOS
QNX
SINIX
UNICOS
Venix 2.0
Virtual Machine/Extended Architecture Migration Assistance (VM/XA MA)

1985

AmigaOS
Atari TOS
DG/UX
DOS Plus
Graphics Environment Manager
MIPS RISC/os
Oberon – written in Oberon
SunOS 2.0
Version 8 Unix
Virtual Machine/Extended Architecture System Facility (VM/XA SF)
Windows 1.0
Windows 1.01
Xenix 2.0

1986

AIX 1.0
Cronus distributed OS
GEMSOS – TCSEC A1-class, secure kernel for BLACKER VPN & GTNP
GEOS
GS-OS
Genera 7.0
HP-UX
SunOS 3.0
TRIX
Version 9 Unix

1987

Arthur (much improved version came in 1989 under the name RISC OS)
BS2000 V9.0
IRIX (3.0 is first SGI version)
MDOS
MINIX 1.0
OS/2 (1.0)
PC-MOS/386
Topaz – semi-distributed OS for DEC Firefly workstation written in Modula-2+ and garbage collected
Windows 2.0

1988

A/UX (Apple Computer)
AOS/VS II (Data General)
CP/M rebranded as DR-DOS
Flex machine – tagged, capability machine with OS and other software written in ALGOL 68RS
HeliOS 1.0
KeyKOS – capability-based microkernel for IBM mainframes with automated persistence of app data
LynxOS
Mac OS (System 6)
MVS/System Product V3 (MVS/Enterprise Systems Architecture, MVS/ESA)
OS/2 (1.1)
OS/400
RISC iX
SpartaDOS X
SunOS 4.0
TOPS-10 7.04 (Last stable release, July 1988)
Virtual Machine/Extended Architecture System Product (VM/XA SP)
VAX VMM – TCSEC A1-class, VMM for VAX computers (limited use before cancellation)

1989

Army Secure Operating System (ASOS) – TCSEC A1-class secure, real-time OS for Ada applications
EPOC (EPOC16)
NeXTSTEP (1.0)
OS/2 (1.2)
RISC OS (First release was to be called Arthur 2, but was renamed to RISC OS 2, and was first sold as RISC OS 2.00 in April 1989)
SCO UNIX (Release 3)
TSX-32
Version 10 Unix
Xenix 2.3.4 (Last stable release)

1990s

1990

AIX 3.0
AmigaOS 2.0
BeOS (v1)
DOS/V
Genera 8.0
iS-DOS
LOCK – TCSEC A1-class secure system with kernel & hardware support for type enforcement
MVS/ESA SP Version 4
Novell NetWare 3
OS/2 1.3
OSF/1
PC/GEOS
Windows 3.0
Virtual Machine/Enterprise Systems Architecture (VM/XA ESA)
VSE/Enterprise Systems Architecture (VSE/ESA) Version 1[28]

1991

Amoeba – microkernel-based, POSIX-compliant, distributed OS
Linux 0.01-0.1
Mac OS (System 7)
MINIX 1.5
PenPoint OS
RISC OS 3
SUNMOS
Trusted Xenix – rewritten & security enhanced Xenix evaluated at TCSEC B2-class

1992

386BSD 0.1
Amiga Unix 2.01 (Latest stable release)
AmigaOS 3.0
BSD/386, by BSDi and later known as BSD/OS.
LGX
OpenVMS V1.0 (First OpenVMS AXP (Alpha) specific version, November 1992)
OS/2 2.0 (First i386 32-bit based version)
Plan 9 First Edition (First public release was made available to universities)
RSTS/E 10.1 (Last stable release, September 1992)
SLS
Solaris 2.0 (Successor to SunOS 4.x; based on SVR4 instead of BSD)
Windows 3.1

1993

IBM 4690 Operating System
FreeBSD
NetBSD
Novell NetWare 4
Newton OS
Nucleus RTOS
Open Genera 1.0
OS 2200 (Unisys)
OS/2 2.1
PTS-DOS
Slackware 1.0
Spring
Windows NT 3.1 (First Windows NT kernel public release)

1994

AIX 4.0, 4.1
IBM MVS/ESA SP Version 5
NetBSD 1.0 (First multi-platform release, October 1994)
OS/2 Warp 3.0
Red Hat
RISC OS 3.5
SPIN – extensible OS written in Modula-3

1995

Digital UNIX (aka Tru64 UNIX)
OpenBSD
OS/390
Plan 9 Second Edition (Commercial second release version was made available to the general public.)
Ultrix 4.5 (Last major release)
Windows 95

1996

AIX 4.2
Debian 1.1
JN – microkernel OS for embedded, Java apps
Mac OS 7.6 (First officially-named Mac OS)
OS/2 Warp 4.0
Palm OS
RISC OS 3.6
Windows NT 4.0
Windows CE 1.0

1997

AIX 4.3
DR-WebSpyder 1.0
EPOC (EPOC32)
Inferno
Mac OS 8
MINIX 2.0
Nemesis
RISC OS 3.7
SkyOS
Windows CE 2.0

1998

DR-WebSpyder 2.0
Junos
Novell NetWare 5
RT-11 5.7 (Last stable release, October 1998)
Solaris 7 (first 64-bit Solaris release – names from this point drop "2.", otherwise would've been Solaris 2.7)
Windows 98

1999

AROS (Boot for the first time in Stand Alone version)
Inferno Second Edition (Last distribution (Release 2.3, c. July 1999) from Lucent's Inferno Business Unit)
Mac OS 9
OS/2 Warp 4.5
RISC OS 4
Windows 98 (2nd edition)