The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of operating systems. Please see the individual products articles for further information. The table only includes systems that are widely used and currently available. Due to the large number and variety of available Linux distributions, all of these operating systems are grouped under a single entry in these tables. See comparison of Linux distributions for a detailed comparison.

The tables specifically do not include subjective viewpoints on the merits of each operating system. For this kind of information, please see operating system advocacy.

= General information =

Most OS distributions include bundled software with various other licenses. Although Lisa OS ran on the same microprocessor and was developed by Apple Computer at the same time as Mac OS, very little code was shared between the two. [http://folklore.org/StoryView.pystory=Hungarian.txt] Mac OS versions up to 7.5.5 are available free of charge [http://www.info.apple.com/support/oldersoftwarelist.html here]. Version 5.2 is the latest release of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. The latest 32-bit build is version 5.1 SP2

= Technical information =

Operating systems where the GUI is not integrated into the core OS are often bundled with an implementation of the X Window System. However, installing X is usually optional. Most operating systems use proprietary APIs in addition to any supported standards.

= Security =

Comparison of known unpatched vulnerabilities is based on Secunia vulnerabilities reports with a severity of less critical and above. Updated daily. Posix Access Control Lists support is included in Linux 2.6, but requires a file system capable of storing them (such as ext3, XFS or ReiserFS). A jail (computer security) mechanism is available separately in the Linux-VServer project, but is not integrated into any mainline Linux kernel. The Exec Shield and PaX extensions provide NX emulation on x86 hardware. ACLs were added to Mac OS X beginning with version 10.4. Zones are a jail (computer security) mechanism introduced with Solaris 10. Zeta has full Unix file permissions, but the OS is single user, and users always run as superuser.

= See also =

*List of operating systems *Comparison of Linux distributions *Comparison of file systems *Operating system advocacy *Windows vs. Linux

= External links =