Every Operating System Explained 17 Minutes

Windows. The operating system running on roughly 7 out of every 10 desktop computers on earth. Chances are you're watching this on Windows right now. But despite being everywhere, Windows didn't start with Windows at all. It started with a black screen, a blinking cursor, and an operating system called MS-DOS. When Microsoft released Windows 1.0 in 1985, it wasn't really a full operating system. It was a graphical layer sitting on top of DOS, letting users click menus instead of memorizing commands. Basic by today's standards, but revolutionary at the time. The real breakthrough came with Windows 95. It introduced the start menu, taskbar, and a desktop layout that influenced almost every modern operating system that followed. Windows didn't win because it was perfect. It won because it ran on affordable computers Over the years, Microsoft released both hits and misses. Windows 7 became a fan favorite. Windows 8 tried turning desktop computers into giant tablets and left many users wondering who exactly it was designed for. Then came Windows 10 and today's Windows 11. Of course, it has flaws. Updates appear at inconvenient times, features pile up over the years, and sometimes it feels like your computer belongs to Microsoft just a little more than it belongs to you. Windows is the Toyota Camry of operating systems. Windows runs on almost everything, but one company chose the exact opposite strategy. Control the hardware, control the software, and charge a premium for both. Mac OS Long before Windows dominated desktop computers, Apple was already showing people what the future could look like. In January 1984, the original Macintosh launched with System 1, becoming one of the first mainstream computers to popularize a graphical interface controlled by a mouse. While most computers still rely on typed commands, Apple was letting users click icons and navigate a desktop that felt surprisingly modern. Windows wouldn't arrive until more than a year later. Here's something most Mac users never think about. Beneath all the polished animations and sleek design, modern Mac OS is built on a Unix foundation. Remember that detail, it becomes important later. The biggest advantage of Mac OS is integration. Apple designs the hardware, the chips, the operating system, and many of the apps. Because everything is built together, Macs often feel smoother and more optimized than competing PCs. That's why Mac OS became popular with video editors, designers, musicians, and developers who want powerful tools wrapped in a clean interface. The downside? Macs are expensive. Upgrades are limited, and gaming support still trails far behind Windows. It's like buying a luxury sedan, beautifully engineered, incredibly smooth, and slightly offended that you even asked about customization. And despite the it-just-works reputation, Mac OS can still have its moments. Plug in an ancient printer, and suddenly both devices start acting like they're meeting aliens for the first time. I'll be honest, though, the integration is the part I actually envy. Everything Apple owning everything is annoying until you airdrop a file and it just appears. Windows and Mac OS get most of the attention. But neither is the most important operating system in the world. That belongs to something far less famous. An operating system that quietly powers much of the internet, billions of devices, and some of the biggest companies on Earth. Linux Most people think Linux is an operating system used only by programmers and tech enthusiasts. In reality, it's one of the most important pieces of software ever created. Even if you've never installed Linux yourself, you've almost certainly used it today. Every time you visit a website, stream a movie, or store files in the cloud, there's a good chance Linux is working behind the scenes. It powers most web servers, much of the cloud, and even 100% of the world's top 500 supercomputers. Linux began in 1991 when Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student, wanted a free alternative to Unix. What started as a hobby project quickly grew into a global, open-source collaboration. Because anyone can view, modify, and distribute the code, thousands of Linux distributions, or distros, have appeared over the years. From beginner-friendly options like Ubuntu to specialized versions for businesses and developers. And if you've been following the story, Linux continues the Unix thread. It isn't Unix itself, but it was heavily inspired by Unix's ideas and design philosophy. The downside is that all that freedom can be overwhelming. New users often face dozens of distro choices. Linux is like the electrical wiring inside a city. Most people never see it, but without it, huge parts of the modern world stop working. iOS In 2007, Apple introduced the first iPhone and changed the smartphone industry forever. During the launch, Steve Jobs famously described it as OSX on a phone. And he wasn't exaggerating. Under the touch interface, iOS shares much of its DNA with macOS. Meaning, the Unix family tree we've been following has now reached smartphones, too. From day one, Apple's philosophy was simple. Control everything. While Android spread across dozens of manufacturers, iOS remained exclusive to Apple products. That control gives iOS its biggest advantage. Consistency. Security updates arrive quickly, major software releases reach millions of devices on the same day, and apps generally work the same across the entire ecosystem. The strategy clearly worked. Today, more than a billion people use iPhones and iPads. The downside is that Apple operates a very tight, walled garden. For years, installing apps outside the App Store wasn't allowed at all. I genuinely go back and forth on this one. The lock-in drives me crazy. But I've never had an iPhone just randomly break on me, either. It's the strict parent of operating systems. Restrictive, controlling, and somehow still one of the most reliable options on the market. Android The most used operating system on Earth isn't Windows or macOS. It's Android. With more than 3 billion active devices, Android powers more computers than any other operating system in history. Android runs on a modified Linux kernel, making it another branch of the Unix-inspired family tree we've been following. The operating system in your pocket is related to the same technology powering huge chunks of the internet. Android wasn't originally created by Google. In 2005, Google bought a small startup called Android for around $50 million. A deal that now looks like one of the greatest bargains in tech history. Three years later, Android launched as Google's open alternative to the iPhone. That openness became Android's biggest strength. Companies like Samsung, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and Google could customize it however they wanted. That's why no two Android phones ever feel exactly the same. If it has a screen and isn't made by Apple, there's a good chance Android is involved somewhere. The downside is fragmentation. Updates arrive whenever manufacturers decide to release them, and Google's appetite for user data has raised privacy concerns over the years. I personally love the openness, but I won't pretend the update situation isn't a mess. Android is basically Linux after a complete makeover. Same DNA, completely different personality. Quick question. Are you team locked-down iOS or team do-whatever-you-want Android? Drop it in the comments. And if this is finally making operating systems make sense, hit the like button. It genuinely helps the channel. Chrome OS By the late 2000s, operating systems were becoming increasingly complex. More settings, more software, more updates, more maintenance. Then Google looked at how most people actually use their computers and noticed something interesting. They were spending most of their time inside a web browser anyway. Instead of focusing on traditional desktop software, Chrome OS was designed around the cloud. Your files lived online, your apps ran through the web, and your settings followed you wherever you logged in. And just like Android, Chrome OS has Linux underneath the surface. Google's two biggest operating systems both trace their roots back to the same open-source technology. The advantages were obvious. Chromebooks booted in seconds, required very little maintenance, and were difficult to infect with traditional malware. Because the operating system was lightweight, manufacturers could sell affordable laptops that still felt surprisingly fast. Then came education. Schools embraced Chromebooks at an incredible pace because they were inexpensive, easy to manage, and simple for students to use. For an entire generation of kids, a Chromebook became their first computer. But the cloud-first approach also created real limitations. Early Chrome OS devices became much less useful without internet access, and many professional applications simply weren't available. Want the full version of Photoshop? Not happening. Want to play the latest PC games? Better start looking elsewhere. Android app support improved things significantly, but Chrome OS still isn't designed for heavy professional workloads. Chrome OS is the operating system equivalent of a really fast bicycle. Fantastic for getting around town. Slightly less useful when someone asks you to cross the country. Unix Back in 1969, long before smartphones, laptops, social media, or even the modern internet existed, two researchers at Bell Labs named Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie created an operating system called Unix. Personal computers didn't even exist yet. Unix was born in a world of room-sized machines and terminals connected by cables. Yet somehow, this one project would end up influencing nearly every major operating system that followed. And this is where the entire story comes together. Unix introduced a philosophy that still shapes software development today. Do one thing and do it well. Instead of building giant programs that tried to solve every problem, Unix encouraged small tools that could work together. Decades later, modern software engineers are still following many of those same principles. Unix also gave the world the C programming language. Developed alongside Unix, C became one of the most influential programming languages ever created. Operating systems, databases, browsers, games… Unix is like the great-grandparent at a family reunion. Nobody talks about them very much, but once you start looking closely, you realize every person in the room inherited something from them. MS-DOS Before people were dragging files across desktops and clicking start menus, personal computers worked very differently. There were no icons, no taskbars, and no windows. The operating system that helped launch Microsoft's empire didn't have windows at all. It was called MS-DOS. Back in 1980, IBM needed an operating system for its new personal computer. There was just one problem. Microsoft didn't have one. So, it bought an existing system called Q-DOS for about $75,000, adopted it, licensed it to IBM, and most importantly, kept the rights to sell it elsewhere. That single decision helped build the Microsoft empire. Using MS-DOS was nothing like using a modern computer. When your PC started up, there was no desktop, no mouse, and no friendly interface. Just a blinking cursor sitting next to C colon backslash. Want to launch a program? Type the command. Don't know the command? Too bad. The computer wasn't interested in helping. MS-DOS was like ordering at a restaurant with no menu, no waiter, and no pictures. You either knew the secret words, or you weren't eating. What's fascinating is that early versions of Windows weren't really full operating systems. They ran on top of DOS, using it as their foundation. The colorful graphical interface was basically a layer sitting above a command line system. Before Windows became Windows, it was wearing DOS like a costume. Today, DOS is mostly gone, but its legacy remains. The Windows command prompt still carries its DNA, and retro gamers continue to use it for classic titles. It's probably also why people who grew up in the DOS era can type so fast. The blinking cursor demanded answers, and it wasn't going to figure things out for you. BSD. Possibly the most influential operating system you've never heard of. It rarely appears in advertisements, almost nobody argues about it online, and most consumers couldn't identify its logo if their lives depended on it. Yet, BSD quietly powers technologies that millions of people use every day. Its story begins in the late 1970s at the University of California Berkeley. BSD became widely respected for its reliability, networking capabilities, and clean design. Sony's PlayStation consoles are built on BSD technology. Netflix relies heavily on free BSD for content delivery. Parts of macOS trace some of their roots back to BSD code and concepts. Then came a twist that changed computing history. In the early 1990s, BSD became entangled in a legal dispute involving Unix-related intellectual property. The uncertainty slowed adoption at a critical moment, and while BSD's future was being debated in courtrooms, Linux was rapidly gaining momentum. Had that lawsuit never happened, there's a very real chance the server landscape today would look completely different. BSD excels in places where stability matters more than hype. BSD remained respected but largely invisible. BSD is the most influential OS nobody talks about. And honestly, that's a little unfair. TempleOS TempleOS was created almost entirely by Terry Davis over roughly a decade. And unlike most hobby projects, this wasn't based on Linux, Windows, or Unix. Davis built it from scratch, writing his own kernel, compiler, graphics system, and even his own programming language called HolyC. That's an almost unbelievable achievement. Modern operating systems are among the most complex software projects on Earth, usually requiring thousands of engineers and years of development. The fact that one person built a complete operating system alone is incredibly rare. TempleOS also looks unlike anything else. It runs at a fixed 640x480 resolution with only 16 colors, a deliberate design choice that gives it a strange retro appearance, like a computer from an alternate timeline. The OS even includes a built-in oracle that generates random text. Davis believed these messages could be interpreted as communication from God, making TempleOS as much a personal vision as a technical project. As a daily operating system, it's completely impractical. No modern internet, limited hardware support, and almost no security. But that was never the goal. If every other OS is a city built by thousands of workers, TempleOS is a cathedral one man built by hand. You can debate everything about it, but not the skill. One person accomplished what usually takes entire companies. And that's one of the most extraordinary feats in computing history. Of course, we barely scratched the surface. There was OS2, IBM's operating system that almost challenged Windows. BOS, fast and ahead of its time. Haiku, the open-source project keeping BOS alive. And Solaris, one of the biggest enterprise Unix systems of the dot-com era. Looking back at all of these, one lesson stands out. The best technology doesn't always win. History is full of operating systems that were faster, cleaner, and more innovative than the winners. But technology isn't just about engineering. Timing matters. Marketing matters. Ecosystems matter. And sometimes luck matters most of all. So, I'm curious. What operating system are you watching this on right now? And what was the first OS you ever used? Windows 95? XP? Mac OS? Linux? Or something even weirder? Let me know in the comments. If this finally made the operating system world make sense, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one. We break down confusing tech every week so you actually understand what you're using. And if you enjoyed this one, there's another video waiting for you on screen right now. I picked it because it's the perfect next step from here. Click it, and I'll see you there.