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Unix
Unix was brought to life on a spare DEC PDP-7 at AT&T Bell Labs. When AT&T decided to abandon the Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) operating system on its minicomputers, Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie cobbled together an operating system so they could continue to play a space travel game that Thompson had developed. A colleague gave the system a jokey name based on Multics -- UNICS, the Uniplexed Information and Computing Service.it was free -
Gary Kildall
Intergalactic Digital Research's maverick brain Gary Kildall creates CP/M, a simple microcomputer operating system for simple microcomputers. It would be the model for command-line DOS variations for two decades. -
microsoft its born
Microsoft Is Born Apr. 4, 1975 Gates and Allen move to Albuquerque, where their only client is headquartered. They produce Altair Basic for the Altair 8800 kit, a "minicomputer" aimed at hobbyists. Altair Basic is the finished version of the BASIC programming language Gates started developing in college. In February, 1977, Gates and Allen formally incorporate Microsoft, with Gates owning 64% of the company and Allen 36%. Six years later, in 1981, Microsoft launches its first major operating s -
Berkeley Software Distribution unix
The godfather of open source is born when the Computer Systems Research Group at UC Berkeley releases a variant on Unix called the Berkeley Software Distribution. BSD will ultimately spawn alternatives to some commercial microcomputer operating systems -- and form the core of at least one major commercial operating system, Mac OS X. Tandy/Radio Shack introduces a line of affordable home computers, and debuts a family-friendly operating system called TRS-DOS with such Rated-M-for-Mature commands -
Apple
Apple DOS 3.1 debuts; it will run the Apple II series of computers for the next five years. -
Free software advocate by Richard Stallman
Free software advocate Richard Stallman announces the plan for GNU, a Unix-like operating system that contains no proprietary software. Twenty-six years later, GNU's official kernel, GNU Hurd, will still be incomplete. -
apple during the super bowl
During the Super Bowl, Apple airs a commercial in which a female athlete throws a sledgehammer through a huge screen displaying a stern Big Brother-like visage. In the ensuing chaos, people forget that there are more than two computing platforms and concentrate on the epic battle between DOS and the Macintosh. -
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows 1.01 retails, at a list price of $99. It's marketed as a graphical user interface that extends the DOS operating system and lets users run several programs at the same time and freely switch among them. But it's not touted as an actual operating system until a decade later. -
geos appears
GEOS appears, and gives Apple and Microsoft a few ideas to explore later. -
IBM OS/2 1.1
IBM OS/2 1.1 appears in November, with a graphical user interface and no real acknowledgment that one of its parents is Microsoft. -
microsoft against apple
1987 OS/2 first makes news when Microsoft announces its Operating System/2, MS OS/2, developed to harness the power of Intel's 80286 and 80386 microprocessors. As IBM and Microsoft's joint operating agreement falls apart, OS/2 becomes an IBM product, and Microsoft gives its graphical operating system a different name -- Windows NT. Years of confusion ensue as people try to figure out which Windows is actually Windows. -
steves jobs takes his carrear to a new level
Four years after being "encouraged" to leave Apple and founding NeXT Inc., Steve Jobs takes his career to the next level with the release of NeXTStep. The new operating system builds a beautiful graphical layer on top of BSD, adds an object-oriented development tool kit, and secures Jobs' eventual return to Apple. He holds onto that capital X in NeXT so he can slap it on Apple's next operating system. -
windows big shot
Windows 3.0 becomes the first Microsoft Windows with a shot at a mainstream audience, but it's still just a DOS-based operating environment and not a true operating system. Over the next few years, Microsoft introduces Windows 3.1, a bug-fix-and-enhancement release that meets with widespread approval, and the Windows for Workgroups 3.1 and 3.11 extensions, which add and improve native networking support. But it's still not a real OS. -
windows price
windows 95 was worth 295 -
windows 95 appears
Windows 95 appears, to great fanfare. It spawns a new line of Microsoft operating systems with one foot in the 32-bit world and another stuck in the mud with not-yet-obsolete 16-bit software. Who'd have thunk it that it would take six years to wave goodbye to all that? But Windows 98, 1999's 98 Second Edition, and 2000's Windows Me had to pass before Windows could move on.windows -
The arrival of Macintosh System 7.6
The arrival of Macintosh System 7.6 heralds a new name -- Mac OS -- and a new game called Waiting for Copland. In the end, we abandon the wait for Copland when Apple buys NeXT and adapts its operating system instead. -
Apple abandons its old OS core
Apple abandons its old OS core and introduces Mac OS X. The X is the Roman numeral for 10, but some think it's a nod to X Window (which is in there) and the NeXT operating system (which is also in there). Either way, X marks the spot where Apple moved away from 1984 and into a brave new world.
