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An open encyclopedia of software history
Did you know...
- ...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 the Start button in Windows 95 build 302 says "Ship It!", as a developer temporarily renamed the button in December 1994 for a joke?
- ...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 NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition is the only released version of Windows to use the login screen originating from beta 2 builds of Windows 2000?
- ...that the United States government once filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft over its decision to bundle the Internet Explorer web browser with the Windows operating system?
- ...that the Gizmo theme that was present in Mac OS 8.5b6 originates from Copland as "Z Theme" and was intended for testing the theming service for both versions?
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.