MS-DOS
More info
- Released
- Owner
- Microsoft
- Type
- Operating system
- License
- Proprietary
The operating system that built Microsoft: single user, single program, command line, and 640 KB that ought to be enough for anybody.
Microsoft bought 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products for $75,000 in 1981 and licensed it to IBM as PC-DOS — while keeping the right to sell it to others. By the time PC clones arrived, the decisive commercial term had already been written.
COMMAND.COM, the FAT filesystem, AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS. Windows 95 through ME still booted on top of DOS; the NT line did not. FreeDOS survives for retro gaming and firmware updates.