Comparison of Operating Systems

Compared are these different operating systems:

• Windows: Most popular desktop OS. High overall market share. Probably the best software and hardware compatibility of all OS, due to its dominant market position. Comes pre-installed on most PCs sold. The comparison below refers to Windows 11.
• macOS: Unix. Significant market share and great software support. Comes pre-installed on all Apple Macs.
• iOS: Unix. The mobile equivalent to macOS, pre-installed on the iPhone. Significant market share.
• Android: Unix-like, based on Linux. Most popular smartphone OS, pre-installed on almost all smartphones that are not made by Apple. Highest market share of all end-user OS.
• Chrome OS: Unix-like, based on Linux. Decent market share in certain markets (e.g. US). Preinstalled on Chromebooks.
• GNU/Linux: Unix-like. Widespread use in the server and embedded markets, still significant as a desktop and smartphone OS. Most popular distributions for desktops include Ubuntu, Debian, OpenSUSE, Fedora, and Arch.
• FreeBSD: Unix. Without any doubt the most popular of the BSD systems, is used in production or as part of their product by large companies (e.g. Apple, Sony, Netflix). Has desktop-specific distributions such as GhostBSD.
• NetBSD: Unix. Has been part of various commercial products. General purpose OS that can be used on the desktop, i.e. it runs modern browsers and modern desktop environments.
• OpenBSD: Unix. Fork of NetBSD. General purpose OS that can be used on the desktop. Has influenced other OS.
• DragonFly BSD: Unix. Fork of FreeBSD. General purpose OS that can be used on the desktop. The least popular of the four BSD systems, but it has some interesting features such as the HAMMER2 file system.
• Illumos: Unix. Open source fork of Solaris 10 that has several distributions ranging from commercial to hobbyist, and target various markets such as cloud, NAS, server, and desktop (e.g. OpenIndiana).
• Haiku: One of the most promising of the alternative OS. Has a relatively complete selection of software, including a modern browser. Attempts to re-create BeOS, a commercially failed desktop OS of the late 90s/early 2000s.
• ArcaOS: While it is a legacy OS catering towards remaining users of OS/2, with fundamental limitations (e.g. stuck to 32-bit), Arca Noae has undertaken many significant improvements such as hardware compatibility or the possibility of using more than 4 GB RAM. ArcaOS can also run modern browsers.
• RISC OS: Legacy OS from the late 80s that was open sourced in 2018. Used to be popular as a desktop OS in the UK. Limited in its design (e.g. no pre-emptive multitasking, no support for multi-core CPUs or 64-bit). Unlikely to ever become "relevant" again besides its legacy user base. Yet, it has recently received a modern web browser (Iris) and was ported to the Raspberry Pi. The comparison below refers to RISC OS 5.
• AmigaOS: Legacy OS from the 1980s with slow development progress. Back in the day it was an impressive OS for home users. Suffers from limited hardware support (32-bit PowerPC only) with no plans to change this. Disappointing browser situation (best browser is Odyssey Web Browser/OWB, which is still receiving updates as of 2022 but is fundamentally based on a 2013 version of Webkit with backports/updates added). Long-term outlook is unclear as it is proprietary, commercial OS. The comparison below refers to AmigaOS 4.
• MorphOS: Despite its negligible market share and limited hardware compatibility (PowerPC only, mostly obsolete devices; no support for multiple CPU cores or >2 GB RAM), this appears to be a relatively polished OS and has the most modern web browser (Wayfarer) of all AmigaOS-like operating systems. Good enough to be a daily driver for some.
• AROS: An open source reimplementation of AmigaOS 3.1. While suffering from relatively slow development and few developers, it might outlive AmigaOS and MorphOS in the long-term, as AROS runs on x86 hardware and has some other modern features the others lack (such as 64-bit support).
• OpenVMS: An old operating system going back to the 1970s, which used to be sold on servers and workstations alike. Nowadays, it's only marketed towards the server market, in particular legacy OpenVMS users. Nevertheless, the DECWindows desktop environment is still being developed and officially supported. The current owner, VSI, recently ported OpenVMS to x86, although more with a focus on running as a virtual machine than on bare metal. OpenVMS has influenced Microsoft Windows.

Comparison of Operating Systems

Source: eylenburg.github.io

Last updated: November 2023

	Windows	macOS	iOS/iPadOS	Android	Chrome OS	GNU/Linux	FreeBSD	NetBSD	OpenBSD	DragonFly BSD	Illumos	Haiku	ArcaOS	RISC OS	AmigaOS 4	MorphOS	AROS	OpenVMS
General information
Developer	Microsoft	Apple	Apple	Google	Google	Linux kernel developers + distributors	The FreeBSD Project	The NetBSD Project	The OpenBSD Project	The DragonFly BSD Project	Illumos Foundation	Haiku, Inc.	Arca Noae, LLC	RISC OS Develop­ments Ltd. & RISC OS Open Ltd.	Hyperion Entertainment	MorphOS Development Team	AROS Development Team	VMS Software Inc.
History	First re­lease in 1985. Early ver­sions were based on MS-DOS (1981-2000). Cur­rent ver­sions ("NT") star­ted as a fork of OS/2 (1987-2001).	Early ver­sions (1984-­2002) were an in­depen­dent OS. Now based on Darwin (Mach, BSD, and NeXTS­TEP code), hence lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971.	First re­lease in 2007. Based on Darwin (like macOS), hence lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971.	First re­lease in 2008. Based on Linux. Typi­cally bundled with Google ser­vices. Google-free forks in­clude FireOS, LineageOS, or GrapheneOS.	First re­lease in 2011. Based on Linux. A free and open source ver­sion called Chromium OS exists.	First re­lease in 1991. Typi­cally bundled with GNU soft­ware. Various dis­tribu­tions exist, e.g. OpenSUSE, Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL, and Arch.	First re­lease in 1993. Forked from the Ber­keley Soft­ware Dis­tri­bution (1978-­1995). Lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971. Various derivatives e.g. GhostBSD and HardenedBSD.	First re­lease in 1993. Forked from the Ber­keley Soft­ware Dis­tribu­tion (1978-­1995). Lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971.	First re­lease in 1996. Forked from Net­BSD. Lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971.	First re­lease in 2004. Forked from Free­BSD. Lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971.	First re­lease in 2010. Forked from Solaris (1993-today). Lineage going back to the ori­ginal UNIX from 1971. Va­rious dis­tri­butions exist, e.g. Open­Indiana, Tribblix, and OmniOS.	First re­lease in 2002. Star­ted as a re­implemen­tation of BeOS/ZETA (1995-­2007). In­depen­dent OS with some ori­ginal BeOS code (e.g. file ma­nager & desk­top).	First re­lease in 2017. Based on the last re­lease of OS/2 (1987-­2001).	First re­lease in 1987. In­depen­dent OS. Open source since 2018.	First re­lease in 1985. In­depen­dent OS.	First re­lease in 2000. In­depen­dent OS. Star­ted as a re­implemen­tation of AmigaOS (1985-­today).	First re­lease in 1995. In­depen­dent OS. Star­ted as a re­implemen­tation of AmigaOS (1985-­today). Va­rious dis­tri­butions exist, e.g. Icaros Desktop and AROS One.	First re­lease in 1978. In­depen­dent OS.
OS group	VMS-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	Unix-like	BeOS-like	VMS-like	n/a	AmigaOS-like	AmigaOS-like	AmigaOS-like	VMS-like
Kernel	Windows NT	XNU	XNU	Linux	Linux	Linux	FreeBSD	NetBSD	OpenBSD	DragonFly BSD	Illumos	Haiku	OS/2	RISC OS	Exec	Quark	AROS	OpenVMS
Kernel type	Hybrid	Hybrid	Hybrid	Monolithic	Monolithic	Monolithic	Monolithic	Monolithic	Monolithic	Hybrid	Monolithic	Hybrid	Hybrid	Monolithic	Microkernel	Microkernel	Microkernel	Monolithic
Availability
Target devices ("workstation" = desktop/laptop)	Workstations, tablets, servers, embedded	Workstations	Phones, tablets, embedded	Phones, tablets, embedded	Workstations	Workstations, tablets, phones, servers, embedded	Workstations, servers, embedded	Workstations, servers, embedded	Workstations, servers, embedded	Workstations, servers, embedded	Workstations, servers, embedded	Workstations	Workstations, servers, embedded	Workstations	Workstations	Workstations	Workstations	Workstations, servers
Pre-installed on laptops/desktops?	Most devices	Apple Mac	No	Niche vendors	Chromebooks	Some devices	Niche vendors	No	No	No	No	No	No	Niche vendors	Niche vendors	No	No	No
Pre-installed on smartphones?	No	No	Apple iPhone	Most devices	No	Niche vendors	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Can be installed by user?	Yes	ProhibitedCan be installed on normal x86 PCs ("Hackintosh") but this is against Apple's EULA and is a legal grey zone.	No	Yes	Some devices"Chrome OS Flex", some features are missing or limited	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
CPU compatibility - official & current
x86 (x86/i386, amd64/x86_64/x64)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (32-bit mode)	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
ARM (aarch32/arm32, aarch64/arm64)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	only aarch32	No	No	only aarch32	No
Power (ppc32, ppc64(le))	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	only ppc32	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	only ppc32	only ppc32	only ppc32	No
RISC-V (riscv64)	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Other current ISAs						loong64, s390(x)z/Architecture for IBM mainframes, sparc64, othersarc, csky, hexagon, microblaze, nios2, openrisc		sparc64	sparc64
Legacy ISAs						alpha, m68k, mips, pa-risc, superh		alpha, m68k, mips, pa-risc, superh, vax	alpha, m88k, mips, superh								m68k
General features
Pre-emptive multitasking	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Memory protection	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	LimitedOnly in Qbox (used for low-level tasks), but not in Abox (in which all applications are running). Necessary for backwards compatibility with AmigaOS applications.	LimitedSee AROS Wiki	Yes
Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	LimitedOnly in Qbox (used for low-level tasks), but not in Abox (in which all applications are running). Necessary for backwards compatibility with AmigaOS applications.	Yes	Yes
64-bit kernel	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Support for GUID Partition Tables (GPT)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes
GUI/Desktop available	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Optional	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Optional
Multiple users	Yes	Yes	Deployments"Shared iPad", only for Education or Enterprise deployments	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Native IPv6 support	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	3rd-party app	No	No	No	Yes
Hosting virtual machines	Hyper-V	Hypervisor	if jailbrokencan install an app such as UTM to host VMs	KVM	KVM	KVM	bhyve	NVMM	VMMCurrently only supports OpenBSD and Linux guests, no graphics output	NVMM	KVM & bhyve	w/ qemuUnofficial port of Qemu without hardware acceleration, has to be installed separately.	w/ VirtualboxUnofficial (and outdated) port of Virtualbox without hardware acceleration, has to be installed separately.	No	No	No	No	No
OS-level virtualisation	Containers	No	No	No	No	LXC	jails	No	No	jails	Zones	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
File system support	Only shown if supported by the base install without any third-party packages.
Default	NTFS	APFS	APFS	ext4	Btrfs	ext4, Btrfs, XFS	UFS2, ZFS	FFS2 (UFS)	FFS2 (UFS)	HAMMER2	ZFS, UFS	OpenBFS	JFS	ADFS	AFFS	SFS	SFS	Files-11
exFAT	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Read-only	No	No	No	No	No	No
NTFS	Yes	Read-only	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Read-only	Read-only	Read-only	No	Yes	No	No	No	Read-only	No	No
APFS	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
ext4	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Experimental	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Read-only	No	No
ZFS	No	No	No	No	No	Some distrosFor example, Ubuntu provides a kernel module	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Connectivity
USB	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ethernet (wired networking)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WLAN (wireless networking, "Wi-fi")	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	3rd-party app	3rd-party app	Yes	Yes	No
WWAN (e.g. mobile/cellular Internet)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Bluetooth	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	LimitedUSB emulation only (e.g. for using bluetooth mouse or keyboard)	No	No
Security
Built-in firewall	Yes	Yes	No	requires root	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	NoRISC OS 6 had a firewall, however RISC OS 6 development has stopped; the currently developed version is confusingly called RISC OS 5	No	No	No	No
Full disk encryption	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Secure/verified boot	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Per-app hardware access permissions	UWP apps	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Flatpak/Snap	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Sandboxing of apps by default	UWP apps	AppStore apps	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Capsicumnot supported by all applications	No	pledge/unveilnot supported by all applications	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
VPN support (OpenVPN/Wireguard/IPsec)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Openness
Software license	Proprietary	Proprietary	Proprietary	Apache, GPL	Proprietary	GPL	BSD	BSD	BSD	BSD	CDDL	MIT	Proprietary	Apache	Proprietary	Proprietary	AROS Public	Proprietary
Allows app "sideloading"	Yes	Yes	Up to 7 daysInstallations are only allowed from the App Store, except for apps transferred as IPA files from a macOS or Windows devices, but they expire after 7 days	Yes	via ADBthrough Linux subsystem	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Allows apps licensed under GNU GPL	Yes	Yes	No (App Store)App Store policies are incompatible with freedoms guaranteed by the GNU GPL, and Apple only allows installation of apps from the App Store	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Can be used without online account	Not officiallySetting up "local accounts" is hidden during setup, needs undocumented workarounds such as entering bogus account details	No App Storecannot use App Store if not logged in with Apple account, but can still install apps from other sources	Very limitede.g. cannot use App Store (and "sideloading" is not permitted on iOS!) or use iMessage if not logged in with Apple account	No Play Storecannot use Play Store if not logged in with Google account, but can still install apps from other sources	Noexcept guest accounts	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yesbut need to purchase a license key to use the OS	Yes	Yesbut need to purchase a license key to use the OS	Yesbut need to purchase a license key to use the OS	Yes	Yesbut need to purchase a license key to use the OS
No advertising ID (used for tracking)	Advertising ID	Advertising ID	Advertising ID	Not on AOSPWhile included in almost all devices, the Advertising ID is technically not part of Android but of Google Mobile Services	Advertising ID	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None	None
Unlimited OS update supportWill the OS receive feature and/or security updates forever, as long as hardware requirements are met? Or is update support tied to the specific device (i.e. planned obsolescence) - and if so, how long are devices typically supplied with updates?	Yes	No (6-11 yrs)	No (6-8 yrs)	No (2-8 yrs)Depends on device manufacturer. User-installed ROMs such as LineageOS may increase device lifespan to ~10 years	No (10 yrs)Chromebooks (with Chrome OS preinstalled) have a limited lifespan in terms of updates. Chrome OS Flex runs on other laptops as well, but Google only officially supports the installation on "certified" devices, and certification of devices may end after which it is not recommended to install updates.	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (paid)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (paid)
Native application support
Modern, up-to-date browserusing Blink, WebKit, or Gecko engines	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unofficiale.g. Firefox, Chromium, GNOME Web	Unofficiale.g. Firefox, GNOME Web	Unofficiale.g. Firefox, Chromium, GNOME Web	Unofficiale.g. Firefox, Chromium, GNOME Web	Unofficiale.g. Firefox	Niche browserse.g. WebPositive, GNOME Web, Falkon	Niche browserse.g. Dooble, Otter	Niche browserse.g. Iris	Niche browserse.g. Odyssey	Niche browserse.g. Wayfarer	Niche browserse.g. Odyssey	No
Microsoft Office core apps (offline)Excel, Onenote, Outlook, Powerpoint, Word	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
LibreOffice or CollaboraOffice (offline)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Unofficial	Unofficial	Unofficial	Unofficial	Unofficial	Unofficial	No	No	No	No	No	No
Adobe Creative Cloud core appsAfter Effects, Animate, Audition, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, Photoshop, Premiere Pro	Yes	Yes	LimitedOnly Animate, Lightroom, and Photoshop	NoOnly Lightroom	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Autodesk core apps3ds Max, AutoCAD, Fusion 360, Inventor, Maya, Revit	Yes	LimitedOnly AutoCAD, Fusion 360, and Maya	NoOnly mobile version of AutoCAD	NoOnly mobile version of AutoCAD	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
EU/UK banking appsPSD2 regulations requires 2-Factor Authorization to log in to online banking and to confirm payments. Most banks have stopped authorization via text messages or printed TAN lists and instead require the use of of their app or a specific hardware device.	No	No	Yes	Not on AOSPBanking apps will most likely only work on the original, unmodified Android ROM that was pre-installed on the device and includes the necessary Google components.	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
AAA-category video games	Most	Some	Few	Few	No	Some	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
WhatsApp (native version, not web client)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Signal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Dropbox	Yes	Yes	Yes (no sync)Mobile app doesn't support real-time sync or folder pair sync, only camera upload and "offline files" are supported	Yes (no sync)Mobile app doesn't support real-time sync or folder pair sync, only camera upload and "offline files" are supported	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
OneDrive	Yes	Yes	Yes (no sync)Mobile app doesn't support real-time sync or folder pair sync, only camera upload and "offline files" are supported	Yes (no sync)Mobile app doesn't support real-time sync or folder pair sync, only camera upload and "offline files" are supported	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Web server (built-in, Apache, nginx)	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Old (2006)Apache 1.3.34	Old (2006)Apache 1.3.34	No	Yes
Mail server (built-in, Dovecot, Exchange)	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes
Nextcloud Server	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Unofficial	Unofficial	Unofficial	Unofficial	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Can run other OS's apps?	Linux, Android	iOSon ARM Macs, Windowsvia CrossOver (third-party app)		Windowsvia Wine (third-party app)	Linux, Android, Windowsvia CrossOver (third-party app)	Windowsvia Wine or CrossOver (third-party app), Androidvia Anbox or WayDroid (third-party app), macOSvia Darling (third-party apps) - experimental support only!	Linux, Windowsvia Wine (third-party app)	Linux, Windowsvia Wine (third-party app) - Unofficial			Windowsvia Wine (third-party app) - Unofficial, LinuxLX Zones, available in SmartOS and OmniOS	Windowsvia Wine (third-party app) - Unofficial BeOS	Windowsonly 16-bit apps as well as 32-bit apps via Odin32 (third-party app) DOS			AmigaOS	AmigaOS

Also worth mentioning...

There are of course many more operating systems, for an extensive list see here. I have not included the following:

• OS that have never been marketed towards end users in any way, e.g. z/OS, IBM i, MCP, VSEn, VxWorks, TRON, NonStop OS, OS-9, BAE Systems STOP, ThreadX, FreeRTOS, ...
• OS that are not developed anymore, e.g. OS/2, Mac OS 9, IRIX, MS-DOS, BeOS/ZETA, AtheOS/Syllable, SkyOS, Symbian, Plan 9, BlackBerry OS 7, BlackBerry 10, REX OS, Nokia Series 30, Nokia Series 40, Nokia Asha OS, ...
• OS that have not had any updates since 2020 even though they are not confirmed to be dead, e.g. UnixWare, Minix, Inferno, PhantomOS, Ghost, ...
• This still leaves an extensive list of OS that I didn't include but are worth mentioning:
• Unix
• AIX: Commercial Unix from IBM. Not marketed towards workstation/desktop use anymore (e.g. Firefox browser and CDE desktop haven't been updated in years). While it will be supported until at least 2033, the long-term outlook for this OS is unclear as IBM is more likely to focus on its competing offer Red Hat Enterprise Linux. AIX doesn't run on commonly available consumer hardware (only POWER ISA).
• HP-UX: Commercial Unix from HP. Not marketed towards workstation/desktop use anymore (e.g. Firefox browser and CDE desktop haven't been updated in years). Doesn't run on commonly available consumer hardware (only Itanium ISA). End of life announced for 2025 for both Itanium hardware and HP-UX support. It's a dead end.
• Solaris: Commercial Unix from Oracle. Would almost look the same as Illumos in this comparison (as Illumos is a fork of Solaris). While Solaris was historically used for workstations and still includes relatively up to date desktop software (e.g. modern GNOME desktop and Firefox browser), it is clear that Oracle is focusing on the commercial server market. Even though Solaris is still regularly getting new features and improvements, the long-term perspective has been put into doubt. The current version is still supported until at least 2034, which is generally seen as the end of life date for Solaris. Go on Oracle's website and you'll see that they're focused more on Oracle Linux rather than Solaris. The SPARC ISA, one of the main arguments to buy a Solaris computer, is on its way out as well.
• Unix-like
• 9front: While still actively developed, this is a fork of a legacy OS (Plan 9) that never found widespread adoption in the first place. Lacks basic applications expected by most users (such as a modern web browser). Hard to use for novice users due to its unusual interface which was influenced by Oberon.
• 9ferno: A fork of Inferno, which itself is a descendant of Plan 9, but with a more "normal" user interface. It is a distributed operating system that can run either native (on bare metal) or hosted (as an application on top of another operating system).
• QNX: Used to be a fine OS for the desktop, with mainstream browsers and a full desktop environment available. While it still has a modern built-in browser (using the Blink engine), the focus has shifted to embedded and automotive use. The Photon GUI has been completely removed, making it pointless as an end-user OS. BlackBerry 10 OS for smartphones was based on QNX but is also not developed anymore.
• Redox: Relatively recent project (started 2015) and more of a hobbyist OS, mostly developed by Jeremy Soller. Currently still too immature to be used as a daily driver (e.g. no modern browser available), but has potential to become a serious contender.
• SerenityOS: Relatively recent project (started 2018) and more of a hobbyist OS, mostly developed by Andreas Kling. Currently still to immature to be used as a daily driver, mostly just runs as a virtual machine at this stage. Interestingly, SerenityOS includes its own browser developed from scratch, which is suprisingly capable of rendering "modern" websites.
• ToaruOS: Relatively recent project and more of a hobbyist OS, mostly developed by K. Lange. Currently still to immature to be used as a daily driver, mostly just runs as a virtual machine at this stage. Doesn't have a modern browser.
• Other
• A2 (formerly Bluebottle): A descendant of the Oberon operating system. Never found any widespread adoption or "real-world" use.
• FreeDOS: While some laptops are available with FreeDOS preinstalled, this OS is not suitable for the average user and lacks modern applications. It's mostly a niche OS for running old DOS software.
• Fuchsia: Currently only used in niche/embedded devices (e.g. Google Nest). Relatively young OS with unclear roadmap for the future. The graphical user interface (Armadillo) has been removed from Fuchsia. Knowing Google's tendency to kill its projects, it wouldn't be surprising if Fuchsia development will be discontinued suddenly.
• Genode: One of the most promising and quickly progressing alternative operating systems. Can run a modern web browser (Falkon) and supports a variety of hardware, from PC to Pinephone. Sculpt OS is intended to be a distribution for desktop users, however the GUI is not easy to understand for normal users. Once this runs a "normal" desktop I'd like to include it in the comparison.
• HelenOS: Research OS from Charles University Prague with no known production use.
• KolibriOS: Hobby OS without any known production use
• MenuetOS: Hobby OS without any known production use
• ReactOS: Attempts to be a free clone of Windows with full binary compatibility, but is decades behind and unlikely to ever catch-up. Currently not stable enough to be used as a daily driver.
• Nokia Series 30+: OS for modern Nokia "dumbphones".
• Visopsys: Another hobbyist OS. No modern browser, no real use case.

Can I try out these operating systems in a virtual machine?

The below assumes that you're running Qemu, Virtualbox, or VMWare Workstation Player on a x86_64 (Intel/AMD) PC. Colour guide: possible emulation impossible need to pay

• Windows: Supported by Qemu/KVM, Qemu/NVMM, Virtualbox, VMware, Hyper-V and many other popular virtual machine hypervisors. Theoretically you need a license key, but an unregistered Windows will still run with minor restrictions (also there's tons of resources on Windows piracy...).
• macOS: Supported by Qemu/KVM and Virtualbox. Apple does not allow macOS to run on non-Apple hardware, not even in a virtual machine. Nevertheless, there are plenty of guides online how to install a virtual macOS. The future looks bleaker however - in a few years Apple will drop support for x86, and then you'd be forced to do emulation rather than virtualization on your PC. The last Macs with Intel CPU were sold in 2023 so I would expect Hackintoshes to get OS or security updates until 2030 at most.
• iOS/iPadOS: Does not run on x86 hardware and I'm not aware of any emulator with full iOS support. Obviously, Apple would try to shut it down anyway. There is an iOS simulator that is part of XCode (Apple's IDE), however XCode itself is only available for macOS. So if you don't have a Mac, the only way to kind of run iOS would be to install macOS in a VM (see above), then install XCode, and then start the included iOS Simulator.
• Android: There used to be a project called Android-x86 which made it possible to run "vanilla" Android on a PC (in a virtual machine or on bare metal), but the project has been discontinued. A alternative could be Bliss OS, which is an Android-based operating system for PCs that is in active development, although still lagging behind upstream. It should run on Qemu and Virtualbox.
• Chrome OS: The "real" Chrome OS that comes preinstalled on Chromebooks is not available for download, however there is Chrome OS Flex, which can be downloaded but has some major restrictions such as no Linux or Android app support. Chrome OS Flex appears to run only on on Qemu.
• GNU/Linux: Supported by Qemu/KVM, Qemu/NVMM, Virtualbox, VMware, bhyve, Hyper-V, Xen, and many other popular virtual machine hypervisors (even obscure ones such as 9front's vmx or OpenBSD's vmm).
• FreeBSD: Supported by Qemu/KVM, Qemu/NVMM, Virtualbox, VMware, bhyve, Hyper-V, and Xen.
• NetBSD: Supported by Qemu/KVM, Qemu/NVMM, Virtualbox, and Xen.
• OpenBSD: Supported by Qemu/KVM, Qemu/NVMM, Virtualbox, bhyve and Xen.
• DragonFly BSD: Supported by Qemu/KVM and also runs in Virtualbox using the FreeBSD profile.
• Illumos: Supported by Qemu/KVM and Virtualbox.
• Haiku: Supported by Qemu/KVM and I know from my own experience that it also works on Virtualbox.
• ArcaOS: $$$ Supported by Virtualbox and should also run on VMware and Qemu (though apparently incompatible with KVM as a hypervisor). Please note that you need to pay for an ArcaOS license. Each image is "watermarked" with the license key and due to that it appears that there is virtually no piracy.
• RISC OS: RISC OS does not run on x86 CPUs so you need an emulator such as Qemu or - specifically for RISC OS - RCPemu. Obviously, emulation is slower than mere virtualization, and setting everything up in Qemu is more complicated than just spinning up a new VM in Virtualbox.
• AmigaOS: $$$ AmigaOS does not run on x86 CPUs so you need an emulator such as Qemu or - specifically for AmigaOS - UAE. Obviously, emulation is slower than mere virtualization, and setting everything up in Qemu is more complicated than just spinning up a new VM in Virtualbox. Also don't forget that you need to pay for AmigaOS (I've also not seen any pirated ISOs).
• MorphOS: $$$ MorphOS does not run on x86 CPUs so you need an emulator such as Qemu. I've managed to make it run using these instructions. Obviously, emulation is slower than mere virtualization, and setting everything up in Qemu is more complicated than just spinning up a new VM in Virtualbox. MorphOS is paid, but you can download the image for free. If you don't have a license, the system will slow to a crawl after 30 minutes until you reboot, so it's still good enough for playing around. Unfortunately, the license key is tied to the hardware and because of that you won't be able to purchase a license key for a virtual machine (because it could be copied and shared with others). So you'll be limited to the 30 minutes.
• AROS: Should work on Qemu, Virtualbox, VMware although not officially supported by either.
• OpenVMS: According to the developer, it should work on Qemu, Virtualbox, and VMWare. OpenVMS is paid software targeting enterprise customers but there is a free community license. Some guidance on installing it in a VM: [1], [2], [3].

What about market share?

Click here to show the estimated historical market shares of operating systems across personal devices (from 2019, will not be updated anymore)

The below diagram shows the historical market shares of operating systems across personal devices (meaning "workstations", "PC", desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones, but excluding for example servers). At the bottom you will see a short genealogy of the major "consumer" operating systems. Many historical operating systems families are long dead, some other are somehow still alive but barely so or have stopped not targeting the personal computing or workstation market anymore.

In some cases, the old OS name has been kept even though its successor was a completely different product, technologically speaking. This includes Windows (versions up to Win 98 and Win ME based on MS-DOS, versions since Win 2000 based on NT), Blackberry OS (version 10 based on QNX), and macOS (version 10 based on the Unix-like Nextstep).

Click here to open the picture in a new tab