Last updated: January 2025
In this post you'll find a family tree and timeline of operating systems. I have tried to include all operating systems, no matter how old or obscure. Of course, a complete list is virtually impossible, as there is no way to catalogue all the tiny hobby and embedded systems that may exist somewhere.
Please also note that I only included a few selected Linux/BSD/Solaris distributions (it is arguable whether these should count as an OS on their own or not).
Currently, the family tree includes around 1,185 different operating systems (including some renamings). Tip: use Ctrl+F (Cmd+F on Mac) to search for a system.
There are some missing system and some corrections that are not included in the graphic below yet. Please see here for the issue tracker.
If you'd like to help out, you can contribute here.
Colour guide:
| Alive | Dead | |
| Microsoft | ||
| Apple | ||
| Unix-like | ||
| RSX/VMS-like | ||
| DOS-like | ||
| AmigaOS-like | ||
| Mainframe systems | ||
| L4 microkernel family | ||
| OSEK-compliant | ||
| Others |
Big Update August 2021: Thank you for everyone e-mailing me with suggestions after this webpage got posted on Hackernews by someone. I have added most of the suggestions, such as missing operating systems and a few mistakes.
Big Update February 2023: I added another 200 or so operating systems and made some corrections.
Update July 2024: I added another 30-ish operating systems and made some corrections and updates.
Update December 2024: I added another 25-ish operating systems and made some corrections and updates.
Update January 2025: And some more.