Category Archives: Microsoft

On a dark, rainy night in April 1985…

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Michal Necasek

Update: Since the original document disappeared, a local copy is now provided. When researching the history of computing, from time to time an unexpected gem turns up. The copy of Ray Ozzie’s notes from a 1985 meeting with Microsoft is one … Continue reading →

Posted in DOS, Microsoft, Windows | 39 Comments

MS-DOS OAKs

Posted on May 25, 2012 by Michal Necasek

Prior to 1991, Microsoft did not sell MS-DOS to end users directly. Although MS-DOS 3.2 (1986) and later was available to system builders as a “packaged product”, most PC users would get an OEM version of MS-DOS with a new … Continue reading →

Posted in Development, DOS, Microsoft | 13 Comments

Early Microsoft Networks

Posted on May 18, 2012 by Michal Necasek

Microsoft networking technologies, often referred to as SMB and/or CIFS, have a very long history, longer than one might realize. While Microsoft’s networking products only became somewhat widespread around 1993-1994 with Windows for Workgroups, their history goes back to 1984-1985. … Continue reading →

Posted in DOS, Microsoft, Networking | 17 Comments

DOS boot hang update

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Michal Necasek

Additional information came to light regarding the hangs with DOS 2.x/3.x when booting from a disk with large number of sectors per track. The problem appears to have been noticed sometime in 1987—perhaps. The MS-DOS OEM Adaptation Kit (OAK) for … Continue reading →

Posted in DOS, IBM, Microsoft | 4 Comments

Operating System/2 announced 25 years ago

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Michal Necasek

On April 2nd of 1987 (not April 1st, that wouldn’t do!), IBM and Microsoft jointly announced Operating System/2, the long-awaited protected-mode version of DOS. However, OS/2 was not the only product announced on that day. OS/2 was merely one part … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, Microsoft, OS/2, PC history | 27 Comments