Personal computers and laptops are almost always sold with a single operating system on the retail market. The five most common operating systems are Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, Linux, Android, and Apple's iOS. However, developers tend to enjoy the luxury and flexibility of having more than one of these. This allows them to alternate between a popular system like Microsoft Windows (roughly 75% of the market) and Linux, which is widely used on Chromebooks.

Dual Booting

This is where developers like to use the process known as Dual Booting. It allows them to work on a tool or app for multiple operating systems at the same time, while working on a single computer to test their latest products. Dual Booting is the process of installing another operating system on a hard drive or an external hard drive connected to the same personal computer.

Issues with Dual Booting

1) You will need to restart your personal computer each time you need to switch between the operating systems. This delay may only take a few minutes, but that is a nuisance for a developer that is unable or unwilling to stop their applications often.

2) The set-up process is quite complicated to a standard user. The process is more complex than using a personal computer or cloud computer. Users need to create a partition and install the additional operating system using a drive you can boot.

3) The Dual-Booting set-up is not secure. One operating system can affect both if an error were to occur. This could happen if a user attempts Dual-Booting the same type of operating system as they can access the other system's data via previous operating system updates.

4) Virus infection in one operating system could damage all the data inside the personal computer, which includes the data of the other operating system that is not currently in use. This may be the worse case scenario, but it is still a scenario that one needs to keep in mind.

Operating System in the Cloud

The quick and easy solution to these problems with standard Dual Booting is Cloud Computing. The cloud operating system is a simplified operating system that runs on a web browser. It provides access to a variety of web-based applications that allow the user to perform many tasks without having to boot an additional operating system.

Due to this convenience, a cloud operating system can boot in just a few seconds. The operating system is designed for personal computers, mobile Internet devices, or any web-enabled devices that are used to browse the Internet. Cloud operating systems allow the user to quickly boot into the main operating system. This is because it is possible to continue booting the main operating system in the background, while using a cloud operating system.

Combining a browser with a basic operating system allows the use of cloud computing, where applications and data live on the Internet instead of on the hard drive. This is referred to as platform as a service (PaaS) and Software as a service (SaaS). A cloud operating system can be installed and used together with other operating systems or can act as an independent operating system. When used as an independent operating system, hardware requirements will also remain very low.