List of Computer Operating Systems

List of Computer Operating Systems

S. No. Operating System Developer / Origin Category / Features / Status
1 Windows 11 Microsoft, United States Modern desktop operating system for personal computers, laptops and workstations.
2 Windows 10 Microsoft, United States Former mainstream Windows operating system; standard support ended on October 14, 2025, with certain extended-security options available.
3 Windows 8.1 Microsoft, United States Legacy desktop operating system; official support ended in January 2023.
4 Windows 8 Microsoft, United States Legacy operating system featuring a touch-oriented Start screen; discontinued.
5 Windows 7 Microsoft, United States Popular historical desktop operating system; mainstream support and extended support have ended.
6 Windows Vista Microsoft, United States Legacy Windows operating system released in 2007; unsupported.
7 Windows XP Microsoft, United States Historic operating system widely used on personal computers; unsupported.
8 Windows 2000 Microsoft, United States Legacy operating system designed for business desktops and servers.
9 Windows NT Microsoft, United States Operating-system family that established the foundation for modern Windows desktop and server systems.
10 Windows Server Microsoft, United States Server operating-system family for networks, identity management, enterprise applications and infrastructure.
11 macOS Apple, United States Unix-based desktop operating system for Mac computers.
12 Mac OS X Apple, United States Historical name for the modern Mac operating-system family introduced in 2001.
13 Classic Mac OS Apple, United States Original Macintosh operating-system family used before Mac OS X.
14 Ubuntu Canonical and open-source community Popular Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, servers and development environments.
15 Debian Debian Project Community-developed Linux distribution known for stability and its extensive software repositories.
16 Fedora Linux Fedora Project Linux distribution featuring relatively recent software and technologies; associated with Red Hat.
17 Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) Red Hat, United States Enterprise Linux operating system for business servers, workstations and cloud infrastructure.
18 Linux Mint Linux Mint community Desktop Linux distribution designed to provide a familiar and accessible computing experience.
19 Linux Linux kernel community Open-source kernel used by numerous operating systems, including Ubuntu, Debian and Fedora.
20 Arch Linux Arch Linux community Flexible Linux distribution aimed at users who prefer a customizable system and rolling software updates.
21 Manjaro Linux Manjaro community Arch-based Linux distribution offering graphical installation and desktop-oriented tools.
22 openSUSE openSUSE community Linux distribution family offering desktop and server editions, including Leap and Tumbleweed.
23 SUSE Linux Enterprise SUSE, Germany Enterprise Linux platform for servers, business applications and mission-critical infrastructure.
24 Rocky Linux Rocky Enterprise Software Foundation Community-driven enterprise Linux distribution designed for compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
25 AlmaLinux AlmaLinux OS Foundation Community-governed enterprise Linux distribution compatible with the RHEL ecosystem.
26 Pop!_OS System76, United States Ubuntu-based Linux distribution designed for desktop productivity, development and gaming.
27 Zorin OS Zorin Group Linux distribution designed to make the transition from Windows to Linux easier.
28 elementary OS elementary community Linux distribution with a polished desktop interface and an emphasis on simplicity.
29 Kali Linux Offensive Security Debian-based operating system used for authorized penetration testing, digital forensics and security research.
30 Parrot OS Parrot Project Linux distribution for cybersecurity, penetration testing, privacy and software development.
31 Kubuntu Kubuntu community Ubuntu-based Linux distribution using the KDE Plasma desktop environment.
32 Xubuntu Xubuntu community Ubuntu-based Linux distribution using the lightweight Xfce desktop environment.
33 Lubuntu Lubuntu community Ubuntu-based Linux distribution using the lightweight LXQt desktop environment.
34 Linux Lite Linux Lite community Lightweight Linux distribution intended to be approachable for new Linux users and older computers.
35 Gentoo Linux Gentoo community Highly customizable Linux distribution that emphasizes source-based software management.
36 Slackware Linux Slackware community One of the oldest actively maintained Linux distributions, emphasizing simplicity and traditional Unix principles.
37 Void Linux Void Linux community Independent Linux distribution using the runit initialization system and its own package manager.
38 NixOS NixOS community Linux distribution featuring declarative system configuration and reproducible package management.
39 ChromeOS Google, United States Linux-based operating system designed primarily for Chromebooks and cloud-connected computing.
40 ChromeOS Flex Google, United States ChromeOS-based operating system that can be installed on selected existing PCs and Macs.
41 FreeBSD FreeBSD Project Unix-like open-source operating system used for servers, networking, storage and some desktop systems.
42 OpenBSD OpenBSD Project Unix-like operating system emphasizing security, code correctness and integrated cryptography.
43 NetBSD NetBSD Project Portable Unix-like operating system supporting a wide range of computer architectures.
44 DragonFly BSD DragonFly BSD community Unix-like operating system derived from the BSD family, with distinctive kernel and storage-system designs.
45 Solaris Originally Sun Microsystems; later Oracle Unix operating-system family historically used for enterprise servers and workstations.
46 illumos Open-source community Open-source operating-system foundation derived from the OpenSolaris technology base.
47 IBM AIX IBM, United States Unix operating system used on IBM Power servers for enterprise workloads.
48 HP-UX Hewlett Packard Enterprise Unix operating system historically used on enterprise servers and HP Integrity systems.
49 IBM z/OS IBM, United States Mainframe operating system designed for high-volume transaction processing and enterprise computing.
50 IBM i IBM, United States Integrated operating-system platform for IBM Power Systems, supporting business applications, databases and system management.
51 MS-DOS Microsoft, United States Historic command-line operating system for early IBM-compatible personal computers.
52 FreeDOS FreeDOS community Free, open-source DOS-compatible operating system for legacy software and specialized uses.
53 OS/2 Originally IBM and Microsoft Historical personal-computer operating system developed as an alternative to DOS and early Windows.
54 BeOS Be Inc., United States Historical operating system designed for multimedia and desktop performance; discontinued.
55 Haiku Haiku Project Open-source operating system inspired by BeOS, developed for desktop computing.
56 ReactOS ReactOS community Open-source project aiming for compatibility with Windows applications and drivers; not a complete replacement for all Windows systems.
57 AmigaOS Originally Commodore; later associated with other developers Operating-system family originating on Amiga computers and continuing in specialized legacy-computing communities.
58 AROS AROS community Open-source operating system implementing an AmigaOS-inspired API for supported hardware and virtual machines.
59 RISC OS RISC OS community and commercial developers Operating system originally developed for ARM-based Acorn computers and continued on selected ARM systems.
60 Plan 9 Originally Bell Labs Research operating system exploring distributed computing and the idea of representing resources through a unified file interface.
61 Inferno Originally Bell Labs Distributed operating system and software environment designed for networked computing.
62 MINIX Andrew S. Tanenbaum and community Unix-like operating system originally created for education and research; also used in specialized embedded contexts.
63 QNX BlackBerry, Canada Commercial real-time operating system used in industrial systems, embedded computing and automotive electronics.
64 VxWorks Wind River Commercial real-time operating system used in aerospace, industrial, medical and embedded applications.
65 FreeRTOS Open-source project / Amazon Real-time operating system for microcontrollers and embedded devices; not a conventional desktop operating system.
66 Integrity Green Hills Software Safety- and security-oriented real-time operating system used in embedded and mission-critical systems.
67 ThreadX Originally Express Logic; later Microsoft Real-time operating system for embedded and connected devices, including resource-constrained hardware.
68 Fuchsia Google, United States Operating system based on the Zircon kernel, developed for modern devices and experimental computing platforms.
69 GNU Hurd GNU Project Free-software operating-system kernel project designed as an alternative to the Linux kernel within the GNU ecosystem.
70 GNU/Linux distributions GNU Project and various communities Operating systems combining the Linux kernel with system tools, libraries and applications; examples include Debian and Ubuntu.

Notes:

  • Windows, macOS and Linux distributions are the principal operating-system choices for many personal computers.
  • Linux is a kernel, while Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and Linux Mint are complete operating-system distributions built around it.
  • FreeBSD, OpenBSD and NetBSD are separate Unix-like operating systems and are not Linux distributions.
  • Server and mainframe operating systems, such as Windows Server, AIX, z/OS and IBM i, are designed for workloads that differ from ordinary desktop use.
  • Real-time operating systems such as QNX, VxWorks and FreeRTOS are included for completeness, although they are mainly used in embedded systems rather than everyday personal computers.
  • Historical operating systems are included for reference; their inclusion does not imply that they remain supported or suitable for internet-connected use.
  • This list contains 70 operating systems, operating-system families, distributions and related platforms. Some entries are families or categories rather than independent operating systems.

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