Describe each of the three categories of operating systems

Embedded Operating Systems: built right into the device, e.g. the Palm OS on a Palm PDA device or Windows CE.

Network Operating Systems: designed to run a network of computers – typically have a server version which controls all the network operations, and a client version for each device attached to the network.  An example is Microsoft Windows XP Server

Stand-alone (or desktop) operating systems: designed to run on a single computer or as a client on a network.  Examples include Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition or Mac OS X