BizTech

What is MS-DOS: Computers Reshaped by Simple OS

As the forerunner to the graphical user interfaces in Microsoft’s Windows platform, MS-DOS helped set the stage for the company’s dominance in the PC software market. When MS-DOS was released in 1981, ...

Microsoft open-sources “the earliest DOS source code discovered to date”

For students of early PC history, this isn’t even the first piece of 86-DOS history that has been newly rediscovered this ...

Microsoft finally open sources DOS 1.0 - and it's so much more than the code

Microsoft finally open sources DOS 1.0 - and it's so much more than the code ...
Liliputing

FreeDOS turns 25 (open source, DOS-compatible operating system)

It’s been decades since Microsoft stopped developing MS-DOS, but there are thousands of old DOS applications that aren’t designed to run on newer operating systems like Windows 10. Enter FreeDOS, a ...

Microsoft makes 86-DOS 1.00 open source on its 45th birthday

History painstakingly preserved.
Liliputing

Party like it’s 1994 with FreeDOS 1.3, open-source MS-DOS compatible operating system

FreeDOS is an open source operating system that allows you to run MS-DOS applications even though Microsoft stopped developing and supporting MS-DOS more than two decades ago. While FreeDOS has been ...
ZDNet

It's baaack! Microsoft and IBM open source MS-DOS 4.0

I wore the world's first HDR10 smart glasses TCL's new E Ink tablet beats the Remarkable and Kindle Anker's new charger is one of the most unique I've ever seen Best laptop cooling pads Best flip ...
Hackaday

FreeDOS 1.4 Released

Even in 2025 there are still many applications for a simple Disk Operating System (DOS), whether this includes running legacy software (including MS-DOS games & Windows 3.x), or (embedded) systems ...
Hosted on MSN

Microsoft open-sources original 86-DOS 1.00 code on GitHub

Microsoft has released the source code for 86-DOS 1.00, the 45-year-old operating system that became the foundation for MS-DOS and PC-DOS, on GitHub under the permissive MIT license. The release ...
TechSpot

The oldest release of MS-DOS precursor 86-DOS is now available for download

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 ...
Ars Technica

30 years later, FreeDOS is still keeping the dream of the command prompt alive

Two big things happened in the world of text-based disk operating systems in June 1994. The first is that Microsoft released MS-DOS version 6.22, the last version of its long-running operating system ...
Houston Chronicle

How to Start a Computer in DOS Mode in Windows XP

DOS is a command line interface that can be used as a standalone operating system or in conjunction with another operating system. The main function of DOS in modern operating systems is to run batch ...