In: Computer Science
An Operating system is a System Software which Supports other applications to be developed on top of them and it serves as a house keeper for the Computer System so that the application programs do not have to worry about directly interacting with the hardware.
The purpose of OS are
Managing the Resource of the System.
Controlling the Flow of control and events between different components of the system.
Power Management.
Acts as a WatchDog.
Major OS out there are Linux,Windows,MacOS etc.
The choice of the OS varies depends on the System in which it is used.
Advantage of the Windows OS is that it is easy to use and supports mostly all the applications.
Disadvantage is that it is not freely available and is regularly attacked by Virus.
Advantage of Linux OS is that it is mostly secure and it is freely available
Disadvantage is that it is difficult to work on as there is no GUI associated with it.
MacOS is an Apple product which is highly secure and robust but it is costly compared to windows.