OS of the world -"MS -DOS" (1)

The OS (operating system) is indispensable to use the hardware of a computer.The only Windows OS and Mac OS X we use are not the OS.There are many OSs in the world that have disappeared as a result of the rise and fall, and OSs that have been forgotten without going to the stage while having a lot of adventurous spirit.In the "OS of the World", let's introduce the OSs around the world that can still be confirmed to be present.This time, I will introduce "MS-DOS".

The most successful OS after Windows OS is Microsoft's "MS-DOS".Before the current GUI (graphical user interface) became the mainstream, the hardware side machine power was poor, and the CUI (character user interface) was the mainstream.Therefore, not only the IBM-PC series, which is the ancestor of the current PC, but also the NEC PC-9800 series, which boasts about 90%share (market occupancy) in Japan, executing various applications and PC games.It was popular as a nursery to do.

As mentioned in this article several times, "DOS" is an OS for controlling FDD (floppy disk drive) and HDD (hard disk drive), etc.The "MS" named at the top is an abbreviation for Microsoft, but do you know that this is a name named later?At that time, Microsoft, around 1980, was a software development company that was good at developing development languages such as Basic.The people of the past are so small that the name "soft house" blends in, and it's incomparable to the present.Ibm came there, not just the conventional main frames and mini computers, but also to stretch their fingers to personal computers.

It would have been easier to develop the OS in -house for the technical skills of the company, a giant in the computer industry at the time.However, the OS development was outsourced from the number of staff assigned and low budget.So the white arrow stood was not Microsoft, but a software development company called Digital Research.Gary Kildall (Gary Kildall (Gary), who developed an OS called CP/M in the late 1970s and visited the company, which had been successful at that time, to create CP/M for IBM PCs.・ I asked Mr. Kildor for a visit.However, he is absent due to a business trip to Sannos.He asked his wife, who was a co -owner.

However, there is an anecdote that the response of the two companies has begun to pass each other because the Mrs. who responded refused to sign a secret holding agreement requested before negotiations, and a twist of twists and turns would be heard to Microsoft.When Jack Sams (Jack Sams), a negotiator on the IBM side, visited the headquarters of Digital Research, it was just a house.At that time, the company ran a house to run a company, but it is not unusual for small soft houses.However, JACK SAMS, a large company, may have been caught.He said in a later interview that he had abandoned his expectations for the company.

On the other hand, let's ask Gary Kildall's statement.He answered the same interview as "IBM refused the contract because he tried to acquire CP/M rights."Gary Kildall is already a deceased (died in 1994), so it is not possible to verify which statement is correct.However, if IBM and Digital Research signed a contract and the IBM-PC DOS became CP/M, at least MS-DOS would not be born in the world, and Windows OS would have been born in a different background.There is no way to bring "if" to the old tales, but there is no doubt that the computer was a historic water pile.

Against this background, Microsoft has started developing MS-DOS.However, MS-DOS is not an OS transcribed by the company from zero.This is based on 86-DOS (QDOS), which was developed by Tim Paterson, an employee of Seattle Computer Products, who has been producing computer since the late 1970s.Microsoft negotiated with Seattle Computer Products and purchased sales rights (all rights later).

At this time, Microsoft's founder Bill Gates (Bill Gates) and the current Microsoft CEO Steven Ballmer, the company's co -founder Paul Allen (Paul Allen), and Kazuhiko Nishihiko.(He is famous as an ASCII founder, but he established ASCII Microsoft, which sells Microsoft BASIC in Japan, and has reached 40 % in 1980 in 1980.He was discussed by the four of him, "Is it okay to do something like repainting the paint?"Bill Gates answered in another interview that Kazuhiko Nishi -Kazuhiko strongly appealed for the purchase.

From this negotiation, some software developers, led by the developer Tim Paterson, transferred to Microsoft.Then, the developed OS was delivered to IBM, and the first MS-DOS "PC DOS 1.0" was born.In the contract between IBM and Microsoft, the IBM brand is called PC-DOS and the OEM version is the name MS-DOS, as it was allowed to supply the developed OS to other companies (manufacturing other brands' products).It has been released as a Microsoft brand.This is the story of 1981 about 30 years ago.

As mentioned above, Microsoft, which was allowed to supply OEM, provided version 1 (1.24) to each computer company.Needless to say, once the development of the software is completed, it is a thing that can be obtained by simply shipping.Just like printing banknotes.I have never seen the financial statements at the time, but there is no doubt that the success of MS-DOS has supported Microsoft's stalls.

Let's look at Japan.The MS-DOS was very popular with the 16-bit computer "PC-9801" released by NEC in 1982.(MS-DOS version 2.0 itself was released in March 1983).It was a version 2.11 that made Japanese display possible (the internal version is 2.25).I have never seen it, but it seems that some people used the MS-DOS with a 16-bit CPU board in the PC-8801 series, which was a 8-bit computer at the time, and used the attached MS-DOS.

Not only MS-DOS, but DOS OS in this era is influenced by VMS, which was running on the CP/M, 16-bit mini computer "PDP-11", and UNIX.The one can be glimpsed by the command prompt on the Windows OS, but at the time, the executable file name was hit on the command line and the application was executed.In addition, even if you change the file name, you have to list the execution contents as "Ren Foo.txt bar.txt", so it does not know what a computer beginner knows about operations that are not a problem for those who are used to it.Hmm.For this reason, Filer was greatly popular at that time.

Filers were indispensable for MS-DOS at the time, as Windows 3.0/3.1 had file managers and Windows 95 or later had Explorer.By setting the associations from the application, you can edit text files, browse image files, start the executable file, etc., so even those who are not good at command line operation can make full use of files on the computer.It is now possible.

The "Ecology" series released by the microdata was an indispensable Filer for early MS-DOS, and was included in most computers (MS-DOS).The first thing I touched was "Ecology II", but later "III" was released.However, it seemed that he did not intact due to the spread of "FD" described later.The "FD" is a free file developed by Mr. Atsushi.The OS was transplanted to each computer with the same but different hardware, making it a freeware representing the MS-DOS era (Figure 01-02).

MS-DOS will be upgraded to version 3.0 in 1984, version 4.0 in 1988, and version 5.0 in 1991, but it was dramatically popular from version 3.0.We supported HDD and 16-bit FAT (equivalent to FAT16), and I enjoyed the MS-DOS environment on computers at the time.From version 4.0, the functional content was different between MS-DOS and PC DOS (renamed the same version to IBM DOS).) I remember that it did not spread in Japan, which requires a Japanese input system in order to keep the free space.

And version 5.0.Windows 3.0 has already appeared overseas, and MS-DOS has been maintained in backward compatibility.EMS (EXPANDED MEMORY SPECIFICATION), which uses a dedicated memory card with a bank switching function to an expansion bus, and XMS (Extended Memory Speciality), which performs each memory management, is officially supported by MS-DOS.It is a version that realizes 3.0 stability and required memory consumption.

Memory management is nostalgic when I think back at that time.In order to make the most of the limited memory assets, the techniques of using EMS and XMS to compete how much free space in conventional memory memory can be secured.Initially, I remember using a user-made utility software and a program created by users, but MS-DOS itself also officially supports XMS from version 5.0.

We have a "DOS" command to avoid yourself on each vacant memory, and a "DeviceHigh" to avoid device drivers.In the computer magazine at that time, "Config.sys", which incorporates MS-DOS movements and device drivers at startup, and "AutoExecx.bat", which describe the contents to be executed automatically, has been expanded (techniques).Figure 03).

As mentioned above, the MS-DOS for the PC-9800 series was the mainstream in Japan, but the IBM DOS J4.05/V, which appeared in 1990, began to change significantly.Until then, MS-DOS used a kanji ROM with a built-in bitmap data to display Japanese, but the OS converts kanji ROM into font data and does not use specific hardware.Japanese display is possible.This is the birth of the so-called "DOS/V", but this starts the decline of the PC-9800 series.

MS-DOS version 6, which appeared in 1993, is a de facto final version in the series.The OS joint development contract between IBM and Microsoft has ended, and the two companies have implemented their own implementation.However, there is no change in the basic design, and it has a defragmentation tool and disk compression tool.I used both MS-DOS and PC DOS (renamed PC 6 again), but I was using MS-DOS exclusively because of the message and fonts returned from the execution command (Figure 04-05).

The Japanese version of the MS-DOS was released to 6.2, but in the English version, it was equipped with a DRIVESPACE that removed the DOUBLESPACE, which is a disk compression tool due to patent infringement, and a DRIVESPACE that removed the problematic technology.It has been released to version 6.22.There was a problem that there was no compatibility between DoubleSpace and DriveSpace, and it could not access compressed disks as they were.As mentioned above, it was a hot topic in Japan, but I remember that I was afraid to perform compression operations for partitions from this case.

After that, the version will be upgraded, but since the single release has already been completed and it will be the base of Windows 95, it is better to use it as a different OS.PC DOS, on the other hand, launched in 1995 in PC DOS 2000, a PC DOS version 7 equipped with a development environment and a web browser, and a PC DOS 2000 that dealt with the Euro symbols and 2000 issues.Even now, the IBM site contains information about PC DOS 2000.If you miss those days, please take a look (Figure 06-07).

In addition, the Digital Research described above has been on its own route and released an OS called DR-DOS.Compared to the MS-DOS/PC DOS, it was one step out of memory management, but in 1991, Digital Research was absorbed to Novell, and three years later, it was released as Novell Dos 7.In 1996, Caldera retained rights and released the following year to Opendos 7.01.However, after that, DR OPEN 7.02 and DR-DOS 7.03 have been renamed again, and DRDOS is currently selling as "DR DOS".