OS is just a resource manager... applications are just any programs u run deamons, shells, explorer, servers... anything -- OS just distributes resources like CPU, memory, files etc.. between these applications ( processes is a more appropraite term ). X-server , IE5 etc. are all application they use the OS to access the hardware through system calls. most applications actually use a library interface or an API to call these system calls. the OS consists of just the kernal which has various modules -- for file mgmt, CPU scheduling, process mgmt etc... it is usually small -- linux:vmlinuz fits on a floppy so does the MSDOS OS. apm
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OS is just a resource manager ... applications are just any programs u run deamons, shells, explorer, servers ... anything -- OS just distributes resources like CPU, memory, files etc.. between these applications ( processes is a more appropraite term ). X-server , IE5 etc. are all application they use the OS to access the hardware through system calls. most applications actually use a library interface or an API to call these system calls. the OS consists of just the kernal which has various modules -- for file mgmt, CPU scheduling, process mgmt etc... it is usually small -- linux :vmlinuz fits on a floppy so does the MSDOS OS. apm