Editing Operating environment (section)

{{Short description|Environment in which users run application software}}
{{About|computer user's applications environments|operating system process environments|Environment variable}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2012}}

In [[computer software]], an '''operating environment''' or '''integrated applications environment''' is the [[Deployment environment|environment]] in which users run [[application software]]. The environment consists of a [[user interface]] provided by an '''applications manager''' and usually an [[application programming interface]] (API) to the applications manager.

An operating environment is ''not'' a full [[operating system]], but is a form of [[middleware]] that rests between the OS and the application. For example, the first version of [[Microsoft Windows]],  [[Windows 1.0]], was not a full operating system, but a [[GUI]] laid over DOS albeit with an API of its own. Similarly, the [[IBM U2]] system operates on both [[Unix]]/[[Linux]] and [[Windows NT]]. Usually the user interface is [[text-based user interface|text-based]] or [[graphical user interface|graphical]], rather than a [[command-line interface]] (e.g., [[DOS]] or the [[Unix shell]]), which is often the interface of the underlying operating system.

In the mid 1980s, [[text-based user interface|text-based]] and [[graphical user interface|graphical]] user interface operating environments  surrounded [[DOS]] operating systems with a [[shell (computing)|shell]] that turned the user's [[computer monitor|display]] into a [[menu (computing)|menu]]-oriented "[[desktop metaphor|desktop]]" for selecting and running [[IBM PC compatible|PC]] applications. These operating environment systems allow users much of the convenience of [[integrated software]] without locking them into a single package.