windows, linux, unix, DOS, freeBSD, and the like are all OS's. They provide security, and hardware disambiguation. (ex: say you have a game, you get a new mouse. You wouldnt have to get a new version of the game jus5 for that mouse, only install the mouse's driver. The game talks to the OS, which talks to the driver, which is basically an interpreter between the OS, and mouse. this can be ...