OS Comparison Matrix Activity

About this interactive

What you’re seeing: a five-by-five matrix — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS across the top; open source, cost, device class, primary use and market share down the side. Fifteen cells are filled in as worked examples and ten are empty, each with a drop-down holding that row’s options plus one that is wrong. Why it matters: these five names get memorised as a list long before anyone can say what actually separates them, and the separations are of five different kinds — who owns the code, who pays, what hardware it was built for, what it is used for, and how many people use it. Laying them out in one grid forces every claim into the same terms and puts the exceptions in plain sight. How to use it: read the given cells first, fill all ten blanks, then check — and read the reasons, not just the marks. Argue with two of them: Android is only partially open source, and macOS is free only once you have bought the Mac. Try again re-opens just the cells you missed.

How to use this tool

Five operating systems across the top — Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS — and five questions down the side: is it open source, what does it cost, what device class does it run on, what is it primarily used for, and how big is its market share.

Fifteen of the twenty-five cells are already filled in. Read those first — they are worked examples, and they show you the shape an answer in that row takes. The ten empty cells each carry a drop-down menu holding that row's vocabulary: the values that appear somewhere in the row, plus one option that is plainly wrong once you know the material.

Fill all ten, then press Check answers. Every cell you filled is marked ✓ or ✗ and a note appears underneath giving the reason — not just the answer.

Try again re-opens only the cells you got wrong; the correct ones stay locked, so a retry is spent on what you actually missed. Reset empties the whole grid and starts over.

Two cells are worth arguing with. Android is partially open source: the AOSP core is open, but the Google apps and services on nearly every shipped phone are not. And macOS is free — but only if you have already bought a Mac, which is a different claim from Linux being free.

Market share is stated as a rank, not a percentage. The exact numbers move every year; the ordering — Windows on desktop, Android on mobile — has been stable for a long time and is what is worth carrying.

What you'll learn

Compare Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS across licensing model, cost, device class, primary use and relative market share, and justify each placement

Aligned to

CompTIA Tech+

3.1 Explain the purpose of operating systems.

3.2 Compare and contrast components of an operating system.

Key terms

Operating System: System software that manages hardware resources, provides common services for application software, and acts as an intermediary between users and computer hardware. Examples include Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Open Source: Software whose source code is freely available for anyone to view, modify, and distribute, typically governed by a permissive license.
Proprietary Software: Software owned by an individual or company whose source code is not publicly available and whose use is restricted by a license.
Desktop Operating System: An operating system designed for use on personal computers, laptops, and workstations, such as Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Mobile Operating System: An operating system designed for smartphones and tablets, such as Android and iOS, optimized for touch-based interaction.
Linux: A free, open-source operating system kernel created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 that forms the foundation of many distributions (Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian) widely used in servers, cloud infrastructure, and embedded devices.
Android: A mobile operating system used by vendors such as Samsung Galaxy, based on the Linux kernel.
iPhone Operating System: Apple's mobile operating system that powers iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch devices, providing a touch-based interface, app management through the App Store, and tight integration with Apple hardware and services.
macOS: Apple's Unix-based desktop and laptop operating system featuring the XNU kernel, a graphical Dock, menu bar, and Finder for file management.

Topics

Operating Systems Windows Macos Linux Android Ios Open Source Proprietary Software Market Share

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