The first things that come to mind for many people when talking about software are applications. That is, programs with which we interact directly, like web browsers and games. We issue commands by typing on a keyboard, clicking mouse buttons, or touching a screen, and the applications respond by performing tasks, hopefully those we intend them to do.
Operating systems differ from applications in that they interact directly with the computer hardware. An OS consists of a kernel, which is the part that interacts with CPU, memory, and devices, and a series of utilities that applications can invoke ...
