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Operating System<br />

An operating system (OS) handles the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of<br />

resources of a computer. The OS handles the operation of the hardware, including disk drives, hard<br />

drives, and network communication. Almost all computers have some sort of operating system.<br />

Microsoft Windows is the predominant operating system software for the personal computer.<br />

Microsoft has become the acknowledged leader in the development of both operating system and<br />

office automation software. The Windows operating system provides a graphical format for<br />

communicating between the computer and the user. The current state-of-the-art operating systems<br />

from Microsoft are, for individuals, Windows XP and now Windows Vista, and, for businesses,<br />

Windows Server 2008 (formerly Windows NT). Other operating systems in the marketplace, which<br />

can support various sizes of computers, are Mac OS X from Apple for use on its machines, and UNIX<br />

and Linux, which are freely available from The Open Group.<br />

Application Software<br />

Application software is the personal computer‟s raison d‟être. Although there are a multitude of<br />

applications available for the PC, this chapter focuses on the following personal productivity<br />

categories of software:<br />

• Word processing.<br />

• Spreadsheets.<br />

• Presentation.<br />

• Databases.<br />

• E-mail and instant messaging.<br />

• Calendar.<br />

• Personal finance.<br />

• Project management.<br />

The two most popular applications continue to be word processing and spreadsheet software. Most<br />

of the popular packages are available as application suites, which include word processing,<br />

spreadsheets, graphics, and sometimes database management software. Microsoft Office is one of the<br />

most widely used suites; it includes Word for Windows (word processing), Excel (spreadsheets),

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