User:Osguy91/sandbox

This is a list of actively maintained computer operating systems. Other lists of this nature are too inclusive of outdated operating systems that are no longer actively maintained.

Criteria
To be included in this list an operating system must:


 * Be considered to be an operating system within the meaning of the word used on other Wikipedia articles (see Operating system - Wikipedia).
 * Be under active development which is defined here as receiving either a security or feature update within the last five years.

Terminology
For the purposes of this article:


 * The word Unix has been avoided because of the legal value assigned to it (see The Open Group - Wikipedia).
 * The word Linux means both the kernel and systems that use the kernel.

Other considerations

 * Operating systems are not grouped by purpose because there is no restriction that an operating system is used for any particular purpose.
 * Operating systems are not grouped by instruction set architecture because they are often ported to other instruction sets.
 * Operating systems are listed alphabetically to avoid any particular bias around prominence of position within the list.
 * Operating systems are inclusive and there is a need to be both fair and avoid making the page unreadable by including too many similar systems.

Other notes

 * Linux distributions should not be included separately at present as it risks making the page unreadable due to the enormous number of distributions.
 * Android is the only current exemption made to the above rule. The reason for this is the significant market share and popular distinction between the two.
 * There may be future exemptions to the above rule.
 * The Berkeley Software Distribution derivatives are listed separately because there is significant variation between them (see Berkeley Software Distribution - Wikipedia).
 * Versions of Windows and macOS should be treated as part of their constituent system unless there is a significant reason not to do so. For example do not include both Windows 7 and Windows 10.

List of Operating Systems

 * Android (see Android (operating system) - Wikipedia).
 * FreeBSD (see FreeBSD - Wikipedia).
 * HP-UX (see HP-UX - Wikipedia).
 * IBM AIX (see IBM AIX - Wikipedia).
 * iOS (see iOS - Wikipedia).
 * Linux (see Linux kernel - Wikipedia).
 * macOS (see macOS - Wikipedia).
 * Microsoft Windows (see Microsoft Windows - Wikipedia).
 * NetBSD (see NetBSD - Wikipedia).
 * OpenBSD (see OpenBSD - Wikipedia).
 * QNX (see QNX - Wikipedia).
 * Solaris (see Solaris (operating system) - Wikipedia).