On Fri, 14 Apr 2000, Kurth Bemis wrote:
>>> wait a min - wasn't the first version based of UNIX code anyway?
>>
>> First version of what?
>
> sorry...first version of MS DOS....before the company [Microsoft] bought
> CPM
Er, no. MS-DOS was never based on any UNIX code, and Microsoft (AFAIK)
never produced any flavor of CP/M.
CP/M stood for "Control Program for Microcomputers", and didn't really
resemble Unix much. It was produced by Digital Research (the same company
that later produced DR-DOS). IIRC, CP/M used letters to identify drives but
did not support directories, although it could separate files based on which
"user" number "owned" them.
MS-DOS was originally called 86-DOS. It was written by Seattle Computer
Products to support their line of computers using Intel's new 8086
microprocessor. Supposedly, the original name for 86-DOS was "QDOS", for
"Quick and Dirty Operating System". Microsoft bought it from them for
$50,000, brushed it up, put their name on it, and sold it to IBM as the OS for
their new IBM-PC line.
IBM submitted the code to their QA people, who supposedly found and
corrected over 300 bugs. This is the reason why MS-DOS was copyrighted
jointly by IBM and Microsoft for the longest time, and why IBM still makes
PC-DOS today.
MS-DOS 1.0 did not support directories, I/O redirection, or damn near
anything else. DOS 2.0 was the first release to support subdirectories, using
the backslash (\) because DOS 1.0 used the slash (/) as a command switch, not
needing it for directories. Paul Allen has reportedly said this was the
biggest mistake he ever made.
Another interesting tidbit is that Microsoft once released a marketing
brochure claiming MS-DOS 1.25 would support:
- I/O redirection
- Multitasking
- Multi-user security
- Graphics support
- Disks up to 4 GB in size
- Multi-byte characters
- Subdirectories and hard disks
- Networking
It wasn't until the first version of NT, released over ten years and two
operating systems later, that all of that was finally implemented, and then
badly.
DISCLAIMER: My memory is rather foggy concerning prehistoric DOS trivia.
The above likely contains inaccuracies, and was largely based on popular rumor
to begin with. Your mileage may very. Use at your own risk. Be kind to
animals. Brush after every meal.
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
| "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too |
| dark to read!" -- Groucho Marx |
**********************************************************
To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the following text in the
*body* (*not* the subject line) of the letter:
unsubscribe gnhlug
**********************************************************
