Operating Systems for 7 Year Old's

I was both amused and horrified at how my 7 yo’s computer science book explained Windows:

“Windows is the most popular program that makes the computer work.”

Man, we’re defining an Operating System (OS) based on popularity, I shuddered.

Once upon a time, the OS was defined as a piece of software that managed the hardware of a computer. I know, I know, that’s way too complicated for a 7 yo...

Tech blogger Ben Thompson suggested a different way of describing the OS, not the computer science way, but from a control and money perspective. Huh? He starts with the definition I gave (software that manages the hardware) and explains where that led to (control and money-wise):

-          As the OS was the broker to the hardware, users and programmers stopped knowing or caring about the hardware;

-          As programmers write applications for an OS, users flock to it because so many applications exist for that OS. This sets off a virtuous cycle for that OS, which then means the OS company makes a lot of money. Think Windows and Microsoft;

To summarize: the OS is whatever acts as the access point for and to the user.

Ok, you say, but that still aligns with the computer science definition of an OS. Sure, says Thompson, but check out what happened when the Internet came. Google became the point of entry to the Net: you searched for what you wanted and clicked the link. By analogy, Google had become the Internet’s OS since it acted as the interface between the user and the sites (the virtual hardware). Notice how Google minted money in this role as the OS of the Internet!

But wait, the trend continued. As the need for a way to identify people even in an anonymized Net increased, Facebook became that medium. And thus Facebook can be called the OS to interface between specific users and advertisers (the next virtual hardware). And Facebook has raked in the money in that role.

Thompson wonders if Amazon’s Alexa is the next OS in this way of thinking. After all, Alexa is the interface to so many smart devices at home that can be controlled by the user talking to Alexa. And the number of such devices is only increasing. Alexa is still relatively new, so yes, it hasn’t made money like the other OS’s mentioned above (Windows, Google and Facebook), but you get the point Thompson is making.

Suddenly, the definition of the OS that my daughter’s book gave doesn’t sound so outrageous anymore. Also, my daughter knows Google, Facebook/WhatsApp and Alexa, but she draws a blank at Windows, so maybe the definition of OS needs to change after all…