More sophisticated tasks like writing letters or plotting graphs are provided by applications (programs) running under the operating system. There have been many operating systems in the short history of computers. The idea of Graphical User Interface (GUI – grafické uživatelské rozhraní – ikony, okna na ploše) was implemented in the 1970s. Although Microsoft Windows is the best-known GUI operating system, it is not the best. Some users prefer to work with LINUX – a freeware version of the UNIX operating system.
In the future, the operating systems will have new tasks. The keyboard will not be only device for entering texts – you will just speak into a microphone and the text will appear on the screen. Computers will have to be more flexible, more stable and easy to use even for the man in the street.
The Microsoft story – Microsoft was founded in 1975 by two young men from Seattle, Paul Allen and Bill Gates. Their first business was their BASIC programming language for the Altair 8800 computer. During the following years Microsoft BASIC became quite a popular programming language on 8-bit personal computers. In the late seventies Microsoft was successful but still quite a small company of only a few people.
The breakthrough year was 1981 when Microsoft introduced their MS-DOS operating system on the IBM Personal Computer. The launch of Window 3.0 in 1990 represented a completely new software approach on MS-DOS based computers. Since 1995 Windows has been a stand-alone operating system independent of MS-DOS. Bill Gates is without doubt a visionary who can perfectly foresee what users will need.