About this interactive
Every device here is a computer with an operating system. A smart TV runs its own, Fire OS on Amazon's, and keeps running it even while it is only a monitor for a Windows laptop or a Raspberry Pi running Raspberry Pi OS: three operating systems at work at once. Cisco's switches and routers run Cisco IOS (no relation to Apple's iOS), which you reach over SSH and drive by typing commands such as conf t and show version.
When people choose, the three big names are built differently. Apple sells hardware and makes the operating system for it: a closed architecture, tightly controlled, with strict rules for app developers, which is why its devices "just work" together and suit home users who own several. Microsoft built Windows for businesses: it runs on many makers' PCs and is managed across an organization with tools such as Active Directory, so it is "easier to support". Linux is open: free, changeable and installable on almost any hardware, the "most adaptable" choice for servers, IoT devices and custom products, and for techies who want control on a laptop.
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