Operating systems - not Linux, Mac & Windows but free !!!
Operating systems war started decades ago, the first mainstream desktop OS war was between the Mac and Windows. Operating systems is a set of codes, programs, applications that create an interface between the humans and computer hardware . As the PCs dominated the market, Windows from Microsoft has became the most used and popular operating systems ever. It stayed close for more than two decades.
Meet linux , a free and open source operating system was another one to join the race where the users have the full freedom to use, copy, share and even modify. Linux is the only operating system that is secure, stable and reliable , but years later, it still hasn't managed to capture the desktop PC market. Efforts on the Linux are still going on. There are huge numbers of Linux distributions, most of them designed specifically for end user's, while many others for doing specific tasks. There are only minor differences between Linux distributions, so the user experience does not change a whole lot between them.
Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces (GUIs).Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal computermarket, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.The most recent client version of Windows is Windows 7; the most recent server version is Windows Server 2008 R2; the most recent mobile version is Windows Phone 7.
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer, Inc.) for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface. The original form of what Apple would later name the "Mac OS" was the integral and unnamed system software first introduced in 1984 with the original Macintosh, usually referred to simply as the system software.
If you have tried your hand at Linux ,Mac & Windows and want to try some more , lets move on to the list of operating systems that are not Linux, Mac & Windows but free.
Please note for your information before you actually install and try them , be careful and try and back-up up all the important data from your hard drive. Some of these operating systems are still in development stages and not have been tested thoroughly.
ReactOS is a free operating system that looks some what similar like Windows.The unique thing about ReactOS is that it was built from scratch, to be look like Windows. ReactOS in fact run most of the Windows applications.The developersof the Operating system want users to be able to use ReactOS, along with the Windows software and compatible hardware without any issues.The Actual size of the ReactOS is 48.9 MB, the latest version of ReactOS - 0.3.13 isn’t too large or heavy on resources - it’s a fraction of the size of a standard Windows operating system installation. but there is a problem, it is very limited in features. Those who do not want to left some space to install this ReactOS on harddrive , there’s also LiveCD versions that can run off a CD or even disc images that will work on a virtual PC environment like Virtualbox.
Haiku Project (www.haiku-os.org)
BeOS first developed back in 1991 and the last version 5.1 was out in late November 2001, after which the operating system ceased to exist. Haiku is a community driven project, it is influenced by the original BeOS operating system and it is under development, since the end of BeOS. The Haiku project aims to have the operating system which is compatible with BeOS binaries. BeOS, in its developing time was extremely responsive and had the right number of features and it has modern user interface. Haiku mimics features and characteristics of that OS. Like ReactOS, Haiku is free to download as an .ISO format where you can burn on a disc and install on your PC. Not only that a virtual machine image file is also available. It’s a little more bulkier than ReactOS close to 238 MB But it is still much smaller than most mainstream Linux distributions and Windows.
Google Chromium OS (http://dev.chromium.org/chromium-os)
Google’s Chrome OS developed by google by taking the ideas from their own Chrome web browser. it was designed for notebooks and specific models called Google Chromebooks. The platform is very lightweight and designed to use on the web.The operating system is minimal and it runs a well customized version of the Chrome browser, which in turn accesses Google’s suite of web applications. While there is no way to download chrome OS, the developers who have compiled the operating system and made those available on the web.Chromium OS is actually the development branch of the operating system that’s continuously under development. Hexxeh is one of developers and you can find a recent built of the Chromium operating system available for download on this site.
OpenIndiana (www.openindiana.org)
OpenSolaris, on the most popular open source, Solaris-based operating system was developed and handled by Sun Microsystems. After Oracle took over Sun, development of the platform was too slow and the developers decided to branch out the operating system into something called OpenIndiana. While OpenSolaris, like OpenIndiana is some what similar to Unix and Linux, many of the applications and packages have changed, since then. There are more advanced file systems available, along with a bunch of other features, which have made the operating system robust. If you’re a GNU/Linux user and you’re looking for something similar, OpenIndiana may be the one to try out. The OpenIndiana desktop DVD build for 32-bit operating systems is around 802 MB and 963 MB USB version for more portable.
FreeBSD (www.freebsd.org)
The original BSD operating system was developed by the Berkeley University in California. Like OpenIndiana, it was started back as Unix and then ,there have been several branches of the operating system. NetBSD (www.netbsd.org) and PCBSD (www.pcbsd.org) are two such branches, but the most popular one was the FreeBSD. For the biggest of Linux fans, it’s BSD that they look at once they are done playing with. FreeBSD is more suited as server and development environments, still enthusiasts continue to run a server at home running FreeBSD.
If you think we have missed out any operating systems from this list, please do post in our comments section below.