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BetaWiki

@BetaWiki

Open encyclopedia of software history. Discord: https://nitter.cf/t.co/36h2ZRe8mZ

betawiki.net/
Joined May 2020
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I worked on MS-DOS, but not this one! Microsoft has open-sourced MS-DOS 4.00 on Github, but it might not be what you think it is. MS-DOS 4.00 was an attempt at a multitasking MS-DOS, but OEMs weren't really interested, and it was only ever in limited release. So it's almost certainly not the one you used back in the day. MS-DOS 4.01, on the other hand, was the one you all know and "love". Actually, it was much maligned. It included the DOSSHELL. People did not love it, as opposed to MS-DOS 5 and 6, which were very well received! More info can be found on Scott Hanselman's site: hanselman.com/blog/open-sour……
Image from Dave W Plummer (@davepl1968)
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Windows Longhorn Build 4074, the most widely known (and arguably the most usable) build of Longhorn turns 20 years old today
Image from underscor3 (@underscor31)
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Did you know? In 1986, Microsoft released a version of MS-DOS which supported preemptive multitasking for compatible applications. This version was called MS-DOS 4.0 and is completely unrelated to the proper, widespread version of MS-DOS 4.0 from 1988!
Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 showing a "Switch" popup with "COMMAND", "FDISK", "DISKCOPY" and "Start a program" options.

ALT Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 showing a "Switch" popup with "COMMAND", "FDISK", "DISKCOPY" and "Start a program" options.

Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 showing the output of the command `ps -lp` with multiple processes running on the machine.

ALT Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 showing the output of the command `ps -lp` with multiple processes running on the machine.

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The design of multitasking DOS 4.0 does in fact share some similarities with OS/2. The DOS kernel exports certain APIs via a NE module called DOSCALLS. The process information structure is the same in both systems. They both also handle errors via a resident hard error daemon.
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To end this thread, one Windows component still shipping today can trace its history directly back to multitasking DOS 4.0 - the Command Prompt. cmd.exe was originally ported from OS/2, which in turn is directly based on the DOS 4.0 COMMAND.COM!
The Windows 11 command prompt.

ALT The Windows 11 command prompt.

A Windows NT 3.1 pre-release command prompt.

ALT A Windows NT 3.1 pre-release command prompt.

The Microsoft OS/2 1.0 command prompt.

ALT The Microsoft OS/2 1.0 command prompt.

The Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 command prompt.

ALT The Multitasking MS-DOS 4.0 command prompt.

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Replying to @dm4uz3
why is this how I find out MS-DOS is open-source
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look between B and W on your keyboard
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"Just say WOW!" Presenting the Windows NT "WOW Reversi MIPS Demo", currently the earliest available NT build. This build was compiled in early April 1991 as an early demonstration of Win16 apps running under emulation on a non-x86 machine.
"Reversi" from Windows 3.0 running on an early build of Windows NT from April 1991. The pieces are square rather than round, because the graphics subsystem (GDI) is so early that it didn't support drawing circles yet.

ALT "Reversi" from Windows 3.0 running on an early build of Windows NT from April 1991. The pieces are square rather than round, because the graphics subsystem (GDI) is so early that it didn't support drawing circles yet.

The x86 emulator console and output windows.

ALT The x86 emulator console and output windows.

A dialog box captioned "WOW!", that says "Just say WOW! This 16-bit x86 Windows app brought to you by the MVDM Team"

ALT A dialog box captioned "WOW!", that says "Just say WOW! This 16-bit x86 Windows app brought to you by the MVDM Team"

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Credit goes to @jeffpar for sharing this build, and to @hyenaskyy, @substanc3dev and others for working hard to make this obscure build work in an emulator!
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Geoff Chappell passed away today on his own terms, surrounded by family and while his good humor remained intact. Please listen to a Beatles record and read a little assembly code in his honor.
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