Talk:Operating environment

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Definition of operating environment[edit]

The article explains the term operating environment as having to do with the user interface. A little reading off of other Wikipedia articles, in paricular Desktop_environment, makes me wonder if the article is defining desktop environment instead of operating environment.

Also, SUN has since version 9 of Solaris called this operating system the Solaris_Operating_Environment. They are clearly using the term operating environment in a different way.

How do we best deal with this issue? --Gosub 00:45, 20 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say merge any info here to Desktop environment, then redirect to Operating system. I can't find any common usage of the term "Operating Environment" other than SOE and other product names. Its meaning is probably best rendered as "Operating System, but the marketing guys think this sounds sexier" and doesn't really seem to deserve or provide material for an article. --Sneftel 02:53, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

X-Windows?[edit]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_Operating_Environment

Would X-Windows be an operating environment under this defination? - Gaurav 17:47, 16 Nov 2003 (UTC)

I'm not sure this article isn't entirely redundant or meaningless - David Gerard 22:36, 30 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Unless I'm mistaken, KDE and Gnome themselves are "desktops" that take advantage of Window managers such as X11 and X.org. Perhaps the article should be changed to reflect that. --- Trevie 15:58, 6 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Rewrite[edit]

I have rewritten the article so it not false, "operating environments" certainly includes command-line interfaces and may possibly mean only environments that are the basic environment of or are integrated with the operating system. GNOME, KDE, etc. are application programs that run atop the X Window System, and according to http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/O/operating_environment.html they may not qualify in the historical meaning. However, common usage and the reasonable meaning of the constituent words would indicate that it is the basic environment in which the user operates, which would include, for example, the desktop environment that a default Linux installation might pop-up and the average user will use. -- Centrx 20:29, 4 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Web desktops..?[edit]

Can a web-based desktop(i.e. www.YouOS.com) be considered a operating environment? As these are becoming more popular, I think they are worth a mention.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.199.207.190 (talk • contribs) 19:11, 27 November 2006

Right, Operating environment was the common term for graphical user interfaces running on top of DOS – before Windows became a full operating system, while YouOS is one of many web desktops, which are a form of desktop environment. The desktop environment article is more focused on Unix-like operating systems, and that terminology refers to a component of Windows 95 and its successors. Rather than being a component of DOS, an operating environment ran on top of DOS – the operating environment was not a component of DOS. – Wbm1058 (talk) 04:46, 28 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]