What capability must an operating system have regarding program management?

The capability that an operating system must have regarding program management is the ability to load a program into memory and execute it. This process is fundamental for any operating system, as it not only allows users to run applications but also involves managing resources, memory allocation, and ensuring that the CPU can process instructions from the program.

When a program is loaded into memory, the operating system prepares the environment necessary for execution, including setting up memory management, handling system calls, and coordinating access to hardware resources. This ensures that a program can run effectively and interact with the system and other running applications.

The other options do not encompass the full responsibilities of an operating system in program management. Merely loading programs without the execution aspect fails to utilize the core capabilities provided by the OS. Executing without loading is impractical, as a program needs to reside in memory to be executed. Similarly, executing directly from external storage without loading it first is not feasible due to the nature of computer architectures which require active data and instructions in memory for processing.