... card, sound card, printers, scanners, other input and output devices. The hardware is linked to the computer through ports and communicates with the operating system through special software known as firmware (or drivers as it is commonly known). The most common Operating Systems are: * Windows * MAC * UNIX/LINUX WINDOWS: This is developed by Microsoft and has become a major platform for personal computers around the world. The name Windows was coined for the reason that one can open more than one application at the same time and work on each one independently simply by opening them in different "windows". The earlier programmes did not have this capability and it revolutionised the industry. After this popularity, various versions were developed with time and now-a-days, we see the launch of Windows Vista. Before this we had the Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows ME, Windows 98 etc. The popularity of Windows has been more so in ...

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