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An open encyclopedia of software history
Did you know...
- ...that Windows XP has been supported in various forms for almost 18 years, which is the longest compared to any other version of Microsoft Windows?
- ...that the special actors in Microsoft Bob generally still have existing code that allows them to be used as normal actors outside of their apps?
- ...that in 1985, Microsoft produced a multitasking MS-DOS that natively supported preemptive multitasking and would later become the base for OS/2?
- ...that early builds of Windows Me replaced the safe to shutdown screen with a blue screen due to the removal of real-mode MS-DOS?
- ...that Windows XP build 2257 supports the ability to render the newly animated boot screen used in later builds?
- ...that every Classic Mac OS version since Mac OS 7 renames the "Special" menu to a unique word beginning with S in beta builds for easy identification of such?
Featured article
MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) is a monolithic singletasking operating system developed by Microsoft between 1980 and 2000 for x86-based personal computers. It was the de facto industry standard environment on the IBM PC and its clones, although it also shipped with other x86-based computers that were incompatible with IBM.By default, MS-DOS is driven by a command line interface – the A>
or C:\>
prompt shown when the command processor is ready to accept input ultimately became one of the unofficial symbols of DOS. Several software vendors have developed programs that add a more friendly user interface to manage files and launch other programs. Microsoft itself included such a program, the MS-DOS Shell, with some versions of MS-DOS.