History

The origin of each operating system — who created it, when, and why.

Linux

Started by Linus Torvalds in 1991 as a free kernel for his own PC, released to the internet and combined with the GNU project’s existing userland tools to form a complete, freely redistributable Unix-like operating system.

Windows

Launched by Microsoft in 1985 as a graphical shell over MS-DOS, later rebuilt on the entirely new Windows NT kernel (1993) that eventually became the foundation for every modern release, including Windows 10 and 11.

macOS

Introduced by Apple in 2001 as Mac OS X, a from-scratch successor to the classic Mac OS built on NeXTSTEP (acquired with Steve Jobs’ return to Apple in 1997) and the Unix-based Darwin/XNU kernel.

iOS

Introduced by Apple in 2007 alongside the original iPhone, derived from the same Darwin/XNU foundation as macOS but rebuilt with a touch-first interface and a far more locked-down application model.

Android

Developed by Android Inc. (founded 2003) and acquired by Google in 2005, launched commercially in 2008 as an open-source, Linux-kernel-based mobile OS designed to compete with the newly announced iPhone.

ChromeOS

Announced by Google in 2009 and launched in 2011, built on the Linux kernel and originally conceived as a lightweight OS where the Chrome browser was effectively the entire user interface.