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Computer Operating Systems (OS) General Feature Comparison

In the following table, the general features for a number of widely used and currently available operating systems(OS).

OS Distribution Preferred license Target system type
AIX Bundled with hardware Proprietary Server, Network Appliance, Workstation
AmigaOS Bundled with hardware Proprietary, Clones available under GNU GPL Workstation, Home Desktop
FreeBSD Free BSD Server, Workstation, Network Appliance, Embedded
HP-UX Per license charge Proprietary Server, Workstation
i5/OS Bundled with hardware Proprietary Server
IRIX Bundled with hardware and with updates available through overlays obtained from SGI Support Proprietary Server, Workstation
Inferno Free MIT/GNU GPL/GNU LGPL/LPL Network Appliance, Server, Embedded
GNU/Linux Generally free GNU GPL and other licenses Desktop, Workstation, Server (version dependent)
Mac OS Bundled with older Macs; Free with OS X for PowerPC3 Proprietary Workstation, Home Desktop
Mac OS X Bundled with hardware and  also sold separately Open source core system (Both Intel and Power PC versions) (APSL, GPL, others) with proprietary higher level API layers Workstation, Home Desktop
Mac OS X Server Bundled with hardware and also sold separately Server
NetBSD Free BSD Network Appliance, Server, Workstation, Embedded
NetWare Per connection charge Proprietary Server
OpenBSD Free BSD Server, Network Appliance, Workstation, Embedded
OpenVMS Free for non-commercial use Proprietary Server, Workstation
OS/2 Per license charge Proprietary Home Desktop, Server
PC-BSD Free BSD Desktop, Workstation, Server
Plan 9 Free LPL Workstation, Server, Embedded, HPC
ReactOS Free GNU GPL, GNU LGPL Workstation, Home Desktop
RISC OS Per license charge Proprietary; originally bundled with computer educational desktop, home computer
Solaris Free CDDL Server, Workstation
STOP 6 / XTS-400 Per license charge Proprietary Server, Workstation, cross-domain solution, network guard
Windows Server Per license charge Proprietary Server, Network Appliance, Embedded, HPC
Microsoft Windows Per license charge Proprietary Workstation, Home Desktop, media center, Tablet PC, embedded
ZETA Per license charge Proprietary Home Desktop, Media Workstation
OS Author First public release Predecessor
AIX IBM 1986 System V R3
AmigaOS Amiga, Inc. July 23, 1985 TRIPOS (as the disk operating component of AmigaOS)
FreeBSD The FreeBSD Project December 1993 386BSD
HP-UX Hewlett-Packard 1983 Unix
i5/OS IBM 1988 OS/400
IRIX SGI 1998 Unix
Inferno Bell Labs 1997 Plan 9
GNU/Linux GNU Project, Linus Torvalds and al. 1992 Unix, Minix
Mac OS Apple Inc. January 1984 None
Mac OS X Apple Inc. March 2001 NeXTSTEP / OPENSTEP / Rhapsody, Mac OS
Mac OS X Server
NetBSD The NetBSD Project May 1993 386BSD
NetWare Novell 1985 S-Net
OpenBSD The OpenBSD Project October 1995 NetBSD 1.0
OpenVMS DEC (now HP) February 1978 RSX-11M
OS/2 IBM and Microsoft December 1987 MS-DOS
PC-BSD PC-BSD Software 2006 FreeBSD7
Plan 9 Bell Labs 1993 Unix
ReactOS ReactOS development team 1996 Windows NT
RISC OS Acorn Computers, RISC OS Limited April 1989 ARTHUR, also the BBC Master OS
Solaris Sun July 1992 SunOS
STOP 6 / XTS-400 BAE Systems 2003 STOP 5 / XTS-300
Windows Server Microsoft July 27, 1993 Windows 2000
Microsoft Windows Microsoft November 20, 1985 MS-DOS, VMS, OS/24
ZETA yellowTAB June 2005  
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