46
votes
Why were there so many OSes that had the name "DOS" in them?
Regarding the three in your question specifically, the similar naming is intentional. PC DOS and MS-DOS are largely the same; PC DOS is the IBM version, MS-DOS is the Microsoft version. DR DOS is ...
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28
votes
Why were there so many OSes that had the name "DOS" in them?
You mean beside the point that they all are foremost about being an OS made to handle Disk storage? I guess that's the crux of engineers using a meaningful name, so people know what's about instead of ...
- 231k
13
votes
What was the main implementation programming language of old 16-bit Windows versions (Windows 1 - Windows 3.11)?
Like Windows 95, Windows 1.x - 3.x were written in Microsoft C, with some assembly in the kernel. Program Manager, for example, is written in C.
Windows 95 is derived from Windows 3; while Windows 95 ...
- 14k
8
votes
Accepted
Why did they call it DISK operating system?
It means the system is capable of supporting disks, including a file system.
It doesn’t mean that parts of the operating system are swapped to disk. Since you’re referring to PC operating systems ...
- 127k
6
votes
Why were there so many OSes that had the name "DOS" in them?
In the early days of microcomputers, almost all forms of I/O not involving a disk were either sufficiently simple that they could be accomplished using code in a ROM, or sufficiently application-...
- 38k
3
votes
Why were there so many OSes that had the name "DOS" in them?
Descriptive simplicity. DOS = Disk Operating System. It's an obvious thing to name an operating system that allows a user to interact with their computer's disk drives.
But I think the main reason ...
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2
votes
What was the main implementation programming language of old 16-bit Windows versions (Windows 1 - Windows 3.11)?
The “core” operating system in Windows 1.0 to 3.11 consists of three modules: GDI, KERNEL, and USER. Add some fonts and a few device drivers (keyboard, mouse, video, and “system” mostly), and you can ...
- 127k
2
votes
Why were there so many OSes that had the name "DOS" in them?
The similarity in naming has been addressed by others. You will find that a lot of OSes were not named DOS, like CP/M, VMS, OS/360, and so on. But you may find another group of names that share a ...
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