1. A method for using an operating system-defined field to support multiple operating systems with mutually exclusive requirements, where an operating system is running on a computer system, comprising: storing an operating system identifier, the operating system identifier being accessible during system boot-up; and providing conditional code used during system boot-up, the conditional code being interpreted by a system component definition interpreter, wherein the conditional code is conditional upon the operating system identifier, and wherein a system component definition is defined by the operating system identifier.