[BC] any DOS fanatics out there?

[Kevin Tekel]

Cowboy wrote:
> The never-released version, the pre-emptive real-mode multi-tasking
> DOS 4 developed in parallel with DOS 3 was based on DOS 2.0, but WAS
> a true multitasking operating system. It later became IBM's OS/2,
> and formed some of the groundwork for Win NT.

Actually, OS/2 was developed as a joint venture between IBM and Microsoft.
OS/2 1.x was released under both the IBM and Microsoft names -- I have a
copy of Microsoft OS/2 1.2 to prove it.  Around 1991, this fell apart, and
IBM independently released OS/2 2.0 with their Workplace Shell GUI, while
Microsoft renamed their version of OS/2 to "Windows NT" and released it as
version "3.1" (to match the 16-bit Windows 3.1), keeping the Windows 3.x-
style GUI which had been added to OS/2 1.1 through 1.31.

The OS/2 roots of Windows NT were most apparent through version 4.0, which
retained the ability to run text-mode OS/2 programs, and in some rare
circumstances displayed an "OS/2 System Error" on the screen.  I believe
as of Windows 2000, Microsoft finally removed any remaining OS/2
compatibility from the NT core (Win2000 = NT 5.0, WinXP = NT 5.1, Win2003
Server = NT
5.2).

IBM kept up with OS/2 through version 4 in 1996, which despite its
advantages of being a true 32-bit operating system, was buried in the
marketplace by Microsoft's Windows 95, and was eventually abandoned by
IBM.  However, it isn't totally dead -- OS/2 was bought out by a company
called Serenity Systems and is now being marketed under the name
"eComStation".  For information on this and many other operating systems,
refer to the excellent "GUI Gallery" at:

http://toastytech.com/guis/index.html



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com