Fond memories of beige machines. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Add us as a preferred source on Google Ah, the PC in the spare ...

Microsoft has open-sourced another bit of computing history this week: The company teamed up with IBM to release the source code of 1988’s MS-DOS 4.00, a version better known for its unpopularity, ...

In context: Back in 1980, Tim Paterson was creating a new operating system he called QDOS or Quick and Dirty Operating System. The system was later renamed 86-DOS, as it was being designed to run on ...

Unlock the full InfoQ experience by logging in! Stay updated with your favorite authors and topics, engage with content, and download exclusive resources. Vivek Yadav, an engineering manager from ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Before Windows, there was MS-DOS—that’s the Microsoft Disk ...

FreeDOS, the free and open-source alternative to Microsoft DOS (MS-DOS), just released a new major update. It still has excellent compatibility with MS-DOS software, including Windows 3.1 and earlier, ...

TL;DR: Microsoft will likely never release the original source code of Windows into the wild, but the company is clearly interested in sharing important episodes of its software development history.

It might seem like the days of MS-DOS were a lifetime ago because…well, they basically were. Version 6.22 of the venerable operating system, the last standalone release, came out back in 1994. That ...

The floppy disk contains the oldest version of 86-DOS thought to still exist. Although long-abandoned for far more advanced successors, MS-DOS remains a pivotal piece of computer history. Released to ...

It's no joke. Microsoft and IBM have joined forces to open-source the 1988 operating system MS-DOS 4.0 under the MIT License. Why? Well, why not? That got Hanselman and Wilcox digging into the ...