The First Generation (1940 to early 1950s)
When the first electronic computer was developed in 1940, it was created without any operating system. In early times, users have full access to the computer machine and write a program for each task in absolute machine language. The programmer can perform and solve only simple mathematical calculations during the computer generation, and this calculation does not require an operating system.
The Second Generation (1955 - 1965)
The first operating system (OS) was created in the early 1950s and was known as GMOS. General Motors has developed OS for the IBM computer. The second-generation operating system was based on a single stream batch processing system because it collects all similar jobs in groups or batches and then submits the jobs to the operating system using a punch card to complete all jobs in a machine. At each completion of jobs (either normally or abnormally), control transfer to the operating system that is cleaned after completing one job and then continues to read and initiates the next job in a punch card. After that, new machines were called mainframes, which were very big and used by professional operators.
The Third Generation (1965 - 1980)
During the late 1960s, operating system designers were very capable of developing a new operating system that could simultaneously perform multiple tasks in a single computer program called multiprogramming. The introduction of multiprogramming plays a very important role in developing operating systems that allow a CPU to be busy every time by performing different tasks on a computer at the same time. During the third generation, there was a new development of minicomputer's phenomenal growth starting in 1961 with the DEC PDP-1. These PDP's leads to the creation of personal computers in the fourth generation
The Fourth Generation (1980 - Present Day)
The fourth generation of operating systems is related to the development of the personal computer. However, the personal computer is very similar to the minicomputers that were developed in the third generation. The cost of a personal computer was very high at that time; there were small fractions of minicomputers costs. A major factor related to creating personal computers was the birth of Microsoft and the Windows operating system. Microsoft created the first window operating system in 1975. After introducing the Microsoft Windows OS, Bill Gates and Paul Allen had the vision to take personal computers to the next level. Therefore, they introduced the MS-DOS in 1981; however, it was very difficult for the person to understand its cryptic commands. Today, Windows has become the most popular and most commonly used operating system technology. And then, Windows released various operating systems such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP and the latest operating system, Windows 7. Currently, most Windows users use the Windows 10 operating system. Besides the Windows operating system, Apple is another popular operating system built in the 1980s, and this operating system was developed by Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple. They named the operating system Macintosh OS or Mac OS.