One reason

that an operating system is required on all computers is that it plays the important role of
making all the things that make up a computer system — the screen, mouse, keyboard, the programs
you use, the hard disk, and all that other stuff — work in harmony. And thankfully, it does all that in the
background, without your even being aware of it. And without your having to know how it does it.
The operating system also provides the user interface for the computer. That is, it determines what you
see on your screen and how you interact with those things. To that extent, learning to use your
computer is really a matter of learning to use its operating system. In fact, learning Windows XP is
probably the most important first step in learning to use your computer. That’s partly because you need
to learn to use Windows just to start any other programs you plan to use. In addition, many of the skills
you acquire while learning to use Windows will apply to just about anything you do with your computer,
be that word processing, making custom CDs, working with digital photographs, creating Web pages . . .
whatever. So every moment spent learning Windows is actually an investment in learning to use your
entire computer and all the amazing things that it is capable of doing.