Definitions for "Operating System Software"
The basic operating system software that is alterable only by the equipment manufacturer or its authorized representative. This software is sometimes referred to as "firmware," "BIOS," or "executive program."
A program that controls the basic workings of a computer.
Your Operating System is the overall program that your machine uses to function, catalogue information and connect you to programs, fonts and system resources. Also known as an "OS", this is the software that actually communicates with computer's hardware. Without an operating system, all software programs would be useless. The OS is what allocates memory, processes tasks, accesses disks and peripherials, and acts as the user interface. With an operating system, like the Mac OS or Windows 98, developers can write to a common set of programming interfaces (known as APIs) using the operating system to talk the hardware. Without an operating system, programmers would have to write about ten times as much code to get the same results. Of course, there are people who have to program the operating system itself...