Patent ID: 7533350

Claim:
A system for assisting a user in selecting an operating system for use on an electronic device, said system comprising: an electronic device configured to store, display, and process information under a selectable one of a plurality of operating systems; and program code running on said electronic device with a current operating system, the program code configured to determine one or more alternative operating systems available for subsequent boot processes, the program code further comprising: a control mechanism for choosing a selected alternative operating system for the next boot process wherein the selected alternative operating system is one of the plurality of alternative operating systems available for subsequent boot processes; an operating system indicator stored on said electronic device, wherein the operating system indicator identifies the selected alternative; and a time out period setting that determines a time out period occurring during the boot sequence of the selected alternative operating system, the time out period varying based on the selected alternative operating system; wherein the program code is configured to automatically close any open applications in response to the selection of the future operating system and wherein the program code is further configured to automatically induce the electronic device to reboot for operation under the selected alternative operating system, and wherein, if during the next boot process, the time out period expires without the selection of a different operating system, the program code boots the selected alternative operating system identified by the operating system indicator.