History of Dos

July 28, 2011

Yesterday (July 27), Microsoft's DOS operating system ushered in the 30 birthday.

DOS is an epoch-making product of history, marking the rise and popularity of PC (personal computer), which has far-reaching impact on the computing industry.

Only by understanding the history of DOS can we understand where today's computer industry comes from. Here is my introduction to this section of history.

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History of Dos

Nanyi

1.

In April 1974, Intel launched 8-bit chip 8080. The size and performance of this chip has been able to meet the needs of the development of micro-computers, marking the advent of the computer era.

2.

In early 1975, MITS Computer launched a 8800 microcomputer based on the 8080 chip, the first PC (personal computer) in human history.

3.

In January 1975, Popular Electronics magazine introduced Altair 8800 in the form of cover reports. This is the first news report on microcomputer in history.

4.

Paul Allen, a 22-year-old Seattle programmer, saw the issue and shook it to the friend's 20-year-old Bill Gates.

The two decided to develop a set of basic interpreters for Altair 8800 and sell it to MITS company. In July 1975, they set up Microsoft with this product.

5.

In 1975, another company, digital research, developed the operating system cp/m for Altair 8800. It quickly became the standard operating system for Intel 8080 chips. (for the cp/m Run interface.) ）

6.

In 1978, Intel launched its first 16-bit chip in the history of 8086.

7.

In 1979, a company named Seattle Computer Products (SCP) decided to develop a 8086-chip pc.

It was originally planned to use cp/m as the operating system, but at this point cp/m has not yet completed an upgrade for 16-bit chips.

8.

In April 1980, a full year later, Cp/m still did not launch a 16-bit version. The SCP decided not to wait for itself to develop 16-bit operating systems.

Tim Paterson, a 24-year-old programmer, is responsible for the task.

9.

In August 1980, Tim Paterson completed the original operating system, named Qdos, which means "simple operating system" (Quick and Dirty Operating system).

In design, he fully draws on the cp/m, the user interface and programming interface almost exactly the same, which makes cp/m on the application that can be run directly on the Qdos. The biggest change he made was the introduction of the Microsoft BASIC interpreter's FAT file system for Qdos.

10.

In October 1980, IBM decided to launch a PC based on the Intel 8086 chip.

It found Digital, Inc., and asked for authorization to use the cp/m system. However, the agreement was not discussed. IBM then went to Microsoft to ask Microsoft to provide it with an operating system.

At the time, Microsoft had no operating system products, but Bill Gates knew that SCP was developing qdos. Microsoft paid $25,000 to the SCP and obtained a license to use the Qdos. (The operating interface for DOS.) ）

11.

In July 1981, Microsoft was well aware of the entire design of the IBM PC, and Bill Gates was aware of the huge size of the future PC market and decided not to use the license model, but to buy Qdos directly. This cost Microsoft company $570,000.

Meanwhile, Tim Paterson resigned from the SCP, and Microsoft hired him.

12.

July 27, 1981, agreement reached. Qdos became Microsoft's property, the name formally changed to MS-DOS. Microsoft's explanation of DOS is "Disk Operating system".

This is the day of the birth of Microsoft's DOS operating system.

13.

August 12, 1981, IBM officially launched the PC product IBM PC, using the operating system is MS-DOS version 1.14.

14.

March 8, 1983, IBM launched the enhanced version of IBM PC/XT, the first time on the PC with a hard disk, the operating system is MS-DOS version 2.0.

15.

In 1984, IBM introduced the next generation of PC IBM PC/AT, the operating system is MS-DOS version 3.0.

16.

In 1989, MS-DOS version 4.0 was released and started supporting mouse and graphical interfaces.

At this point, Microsoft is ready to end the DOS this product. Microsoft has publicly stated that users could consider abandoning DOS to use the OS/2 operating system developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft.

But soon after, Windows 3.0 was a big success, and Microsoft stopped thinking about OS/2.

17.

1991, MS-DOS 5.0 release, built-in QBASIC programming environment. This is the last time MS-DOS appears as a standalone product.

18.

In 1993, MS-DOS version 6.0 was released with disk compression technology.

19.

In 1995, MS-DOS version 7.0 supported the FAT32 file system, which was released with Windows 951.

20.

September 14, 2000, the last version of MS-DOS, release 8.0, is used only for Windows XP system startup disks. At this point, Microsoft's DOS development formally announced the end of all.

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[References]

* Wikipedia, Timeline of x86 DOS operating systems

* Tony Smith, Microsoft's MS-DOS is-today

* Sebastian Anthony, MS-DOS is-years old today

History of Dos