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The two main functions of an operating system are:

• To manage the hardware resources of a computer
• To provide the applications with a easy way to use the hardware resources of the computer without the applications having to know all of those details. This, in computing jargon is called being a Application programming interface (API)

One of the challenges facing developers is keeping their operating systems flexible enough to run hardware from the thousands of vendors manufacturing computer equipment. Today's systems can accommodate thousands of different printers, disk drives and special peripherals in any possible combination

   The main functions of an Operating systems are

Processor management

Memory management,

Storage management and

Device management 

      all of the above coming under hardware managing capabilities of an operating system, while the following come under software capabilities of an operating system.

Application interface

         Application programming interface is that where the operating system creates link between the application and system providing an active link between the program and hardware of the computer.

User interface

     User interface provides  a link between the user and the computer, which is one of the main functions of an OS. This can be from providing user with the convenience of giving text commands or else giving the comfort of playing something with the graphics that are built in the operating system to get the desired results. Keeping in mind, a User who doesn't want to be a  professional to be able to operate a computer, graphic user interfaced Operating systems are more popular in the market and even the free source Linux is also being available in graphic user interfaced version.