How can you apply historical and influential operating systems to improve your operating system design?

1 Historical operating systems

Historical operating systems are the ones that were developed and used in the past, and that influenced the evolution of modern operating systems. Some examples are UNIX, CP/M, MS-DOS, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. By studying historical operating systems, you can learn from their strengths and weaknesses, their design choices and trade-offs, and their impact on the computing industry and culture. You can also appreciate the challenges and innovations that they faced and introduced, and how they adapted to changing hardware and user needs.

2 Influential operating systems

Influential operating systems are the ones that have a significant impact on the current and future development of operating systems, either by setting standards, introducing new concepts, or inspiring other systems. Some examples are Android, iOS, Chrome OS, QNX, and Singularity. By examining influential operating systems, you can learn from their vision and goals, their design principles and strategies, and their competitive advantages and challenges. You can also explore the trends and opportunities that they create and respond to, and how they shape the user experience and expectations.

3 Design goals

Design goals are the objectives and criteria that guide the development of an operating system. They define what the operating system should do, how well it should do it, and for whom it should do it. Some common design goals are functionality, reliability, security, usability, portability, scalability, compatibility, and performance. By comparing historical and influential operating systems, you can understand how different design goals are prioritized, balanced, and achieved, and how they relate to the hardware and software environment and the user requirements.

4 Design methods

Design methods are the techniques and tools that are used to create and improve an operating system. They include the processes, models, languages, frameworks, and tools that are used to plan, analyze, design, implement, test, and maintain an operating system. Some examples are agile, waterfall, spiral, object-oriented, functional, modular, microkernel, monolithic, and hybrid. By applying historical and influential operating systems, you can learn how different design methods are selected, applied, and evaluated, and how they affect the structure, functionality, and quality of an operating system.

5 Design challenges

Design challenges are the problems and difficulties that arise during the development of an operating system. They include the technical, social, ethical, and economic issues that affect the feasibility, desirability, and viability of an operating system. Some examples are complexity, concurrency, security, privacy, compatibility, interoperability, and sustainability. By solving historical and influential operating systems, you can learn how different design challenges are identified, addressed, and overcome, and how they influence the trade-offs and decisions that are made in operating system design.

6 Design improvement

Design improvement is the process of enhancing and refining an operating system. It involves the measurement, evaluation, and modification of an operating system to meet the changing needs and expectations of the users and the market. Some examples are debugging, testing, updating, patching, optimizing, and adding features. By improving historical and influential operating systems, you can learn how different design improvement methods are performed, measured, and communicated, and how they contribute to the success and longevity of an operating system.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?