I don t understand what the difference is between Software and Operating system. what is a simple definition of an Operating system?

To use a Big Bang Theory reference, it's sort of like "...all thumbs are fingers, but not all fingers are thumbs..."

The operating system is software. It is a series of programs and files that work together to make the computer hardware do the things it is supposed to do to make the computer work. It controls access to memory, decides what item to process next, decides what to send to the screen, asks the hard drive to find a specific file to run. And translates what you are typing on the keyboard into something that the PC can understand. At it's very basic level, it is just a series of 0s and 1s. Or a series of lights that can be on or off.

Software is just a general term for anything that runs on a computer. When you power on the PC, the first thing it does is checks the BIOS. That's special software that is just used to start up the PC and do its self tests.

Then it's told to boot from the hard disk (or the DVD). That's where it first tries to start running the "operating system" software. That could be Windows, LINUX, or MacOS. It could also be Android or iOS on a smart phone, since those are essentially tiny computers.

Finally, once Windows or LINUX is booted, you get a menu or use a command prompt to start an application. That's just software that is meant to let YOU do something. Such as write an email, play games, display a video, do your taxes, etc etc.

So getting back to the analogy at the beginning... All operating systems are SOFTWARE that was developed to do a task. But not all software is developed to be operating systems.

In simple words, operating system is the branch that functions different softwares. Just like in a manufacturing factory, the factory is the operating system and the things that are run by the factory are the softwares.

Your operating system is also software. An operating system can be any Microsoft Windows Operating System like Windows 10 ( the most recent ) back to Windows 8.1, 7 and Vista. There are others but from Vista backwards, Microsoft no longer supports those Windows Operating Systems. The Apple McIntosh computers also have their own operating systems. Software is a program you can install on the computer's hard drive or run from an external source such as a flash drive or DVD/CD disk. The anti virus programs you install are software. Hardware is a component like the hard drive, the graphics card, a speaker, etc., that's physically installed inside the computer case or used outside "externally" like a external hard drive for backup or extra storage capacity. Easy way to remember is that if you need to install it on the hard drive, it's software. If you can hold it in your hands and install it using tools inside the computer or plug it into a USB port on the outside of your computer, that's hardware.

An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs. All computer programs, excluding firmware, require an operating system to function.

In the picture, Applications are your software programs. The 'Kernal' is the OS.

Operating system is a basement of the computer. But software is a part.

An operating system is the encompassing software suite that allows a user beyond Hardware Engineer, which would mean 99.9999% of the human population to use a computer, in either the ancient, unfriendly way or the current tailored way.

A popular list is Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and a slew of UNIX derivatives. And more esoteric or outdated ones like Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbien, FreeBSD, DOS. Note I'm still pissed with and refuse to talk about BlackBerry.

Operating System (OS) is system software that manages hardware and software. (e.g: Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Android)

You can't run any software (application programs) without an operating system.

An examples of operating systems are, IOS on iPhone/Apple devices, Android on Samsung devices, Windows 7 or higher on pc's.

Softwares: microsoft office Word is a software at sorts, TeamView (remote access type of software) , Google Chrome (browsing software), Skype (Communication software), Avast (security type of software)

can name more, but I hope this helps you.

an operating system is a specific type of software. all programs you run on your computer are software. an operating system is the main program that lets you run all the other programs. examples of operating systems include windows, DOS and android.

software => operating system => hardware

the operating system is the software that enables the user software to connect to the hardware

(for example - you click on the mouse to tell the program you are running to do something

the operating system is the software that tells the program you have clicked on the mouse)