Microsoft's blinking C-prompt that ran the personal-computer revolution from the 1981 IBM PC on, then slipped quietly under the floorboards of Windows.
Born
1981 CE
Died
2000 CE
Lived
19 years
Dead for
26 yrs
At its peak
Ran on the vast majority of IBM-compatible PCs through the 1980s
Cause of death
Replaced
Replaced by
Microsoft Windows (NT-based graphical operating systems)
The Obituary
MS-DOS was the operating system of the personal-computer boom. Microsoft licensed it to IBM for the 1981 IBM 5150 PC — where IBM sold it as PC DOS 1.0 — after buying a clone called 86-DOS for a few tens of thousands of dollars, then sold it to every PC maker that followed. For most of the 1980s the world’s office and home computers booted to its terse command prompt, where users typed file paths and ran programs by name. Graphical Windows first sat on top of it, but the NT line eventually made it unnecessary. The last standalone version shipped hidden beneath Windows Me in 2000; Windows XP severed the link in 2001.
Worth remembering
Microsoft bought its basis, 86-DOS, for a reported $75,000 before licensing it to IBM.
Early Windows versions ran on top of MS-DOS until Windows XP cut the cord in 2001.
Gallery
MS-DOS command line showing output of the dir command listing files in a directoryPublic domainMS-DOS command line interface running on a PCPublic domain
Sources
MS-DOS first released 1981; last version 8.0 in 2000 Wikipedia
MS-DOS was derived from 86-DOS, bought by Microsoft in 1981 Wikipedia
Microsoft bought 86-DOS and licensed it to IBM for the 1981 PC; the Computer History Museum later released the MS-DOS 1.1 and 2.0 source code. Computer History Museum
The IBM 5150 PC launched in August 1981 running Microsoft's operating system, which IBM sold as PC DOS 1.0. IBM
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.
Buried nearby — by shared fate or a neighbouring lifespan.
