Operating systems

You can if you're just inputting machine language and accepting binary outputs.  As long as you don't want any hardware like monitors or keyboards or memory storage you can get away from an OS.  It's all in the system's architecture, and personal computers would be lumps of metal without an OS to get everything operating.  Well, the first ones actually had no OS as we think of them today, but they did need to be programmed to operate in a way that users could interact with them with a DOS.

Hai

Good question!

A PC is a combination of many devices and functions. If one has to develop an application which could access a PC without the help of an OS, it will have to include all the controlling programs called 'drivers' in each applications.

An OS is commonly handling all internal and external devices and supplying its functions to all applications and users.

Example is a printer. If there is no OS and only an application just like MS Word, the application will have to handle the printer by self. Remember there are several 100s or 1000s of brands and models of printers available in the market.

If you are using a particular printer and I am using another brand, then Word should have the features of handling both the printers. OSs are capable of handling all these devices irrespective of the application or user who access the device or functions associated with the PC

I hope that you have got an idea on the subject. If you want more clarifications, please write to me.

An operating system [o/s] is very important because a computer is just electronics [chips,diods, capacitors,resistors, etc, etc. ] that DON'T KNOW what to do unless told so. The o/s TELLS everything inside the computer when to do things, how to do things, where to go to do things, WHO should do things. Your program won't know how to turn on the monotor, what colors to use so that you can see properly. What language do you want to read, or hear in one language & see the words in another. The o/s must!! set up these things so that your program will work.Another thing, whats happens if you take out your program a place your buddys prlgram, the system would CRASH, because the computer was set for yours. With an o/s you can change programs as if you were changing hats!!