CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr.

Hoganson

The Origins of MS-DOS

Sui-Tung Ng
CS 8422, Spring 2003
Advanced Computing Systems

Tim Paterson
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

Tim Paterson
- Original author of MS-DOS
- graduated from U of Washington in 1978
- worked as an engineer in Seattle Computer Products
- designed an 8086 CPU card for S-100 Bus in May 1979
- began designing DOS in 1980 after IBM had released
their new 8086 microprocessor (16-bit)
objectives in design of DOS
- as simple as possible
- make it fast and efficient
- written in 8086 assembly language

In college, Paterson wrote a multi-tasking operating system for the Z80

microprocessor as a term project. Therefore, Paterson had confidence in writing an
OS for 8086 computer. Patterson spent half of his time working on Qdos from April to
July, 1980. QDOS was completed in July, 1980.

Tim Paterson
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

took two man-months to create Quick and Dirty

Operating System (QDOS)
used Microsoft Stand-Alone Disk BASIC to handle
file organization
was hired in Microsoft in 1981
in and out of Microsoft in 1980s
joined Microsoft again in 1990

QDOS could work with Microsoft Stand-Alone Disk BASIC that used a File Allocation
Table (FAT).

Seattle Computer
Products
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson
located in Tukwila of Washington
manugacturer of S-100 memory cards
a hardware company, not software company, in
1980
worked with Microsoft and Digital Research
shipped its first 8086 cards with Microsoft StandAlone Disk BASIC in Nov 1979
gave up to use Digital Research CP/M-86 as its
operating system in 1980
decided to create its own DOS

Seattle Computer Products (SCP) gave up to use CP/M-86 as Digital Research could
not promise when it would be completed. Finally, SCP decided to develop its own
DOS.

Seattle Computer
Products
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

QDOS - completed in July 1980

QDOS 0.10 - launched in Aug 1980
86-DOS version 0.3 - released at the end of 1980
sold non-exclusive rights to Microsoft to market
86-DOS
released 86-DOS version 1.00 in Apr 1981
similar to the MS-DOS of today

Seattle Computer Products (SCP)was a hardware company, therefore it was willing to

sell the non-exclusive right for Microsoft to market its 86-DOS at that time.

Microsoft
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

paid SCP $10,000 for the right to market 86-DOS and

paid SCP $15,000 for each OEM customer in 1981
got a secret customer for DOS - IBM
bought DOS from Seattle Computer by paying $50,000
plus a license to include DOS in their PCs in July 1981
named DOS as MS-DOS
provided 86-DOS1.14 as OS in IBMs PCs
released MS-DOS version 1.24 to IBM
released MS-DOS version 1.25 to the public in Mar 1982

Microsoft had been working with IBM on their personal computer project and advised
IBM to Digital Research for the operating system. However Digital Research refused
to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Finally, Microsoft offered IBM with DOS by
buying the rights to market DOS from SCP.

Microsoft
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

released MS-DOS version 2.0 to IBM new XT

computer in Feb 1983
settled the license dispute by buying the license
back from SCP for $975,000 in 1986
the total price for DOS ended up $1,050,000
launched MS-DOS to its OEM in 1982
kept improving and evolving DOS for 15 years
stopped updating DOS until Windows95 was
released in 1995

Microsoft kept improving and evolving DOS after buying the products completely
from SCP. MS-DOS became a very popular Operating System in the PC markets.

MS-DOS Timeline
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

Year
12/1980
07/1981
09/1982
03/1983
11/1983
12/1983
09/1984
11/1984
04/1986

DOS Version
QDOS
86-DOS
MS-DOS 1.25
MS-DOS 2.0
MS-DOS 2.01
MS-DOS 2.11
MS-DOS 3.0
MS-DOS 3.1
MS-DOS 3.2

MS-DOS Timeline
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

04/1987
04/1988
07/1988
11/1988
04/1989
04/1991
03/1993
11/1993
04/1994
08/1995

MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS

3.3
3.31
4.0
4.01
4.01a
5.0
6.0
6.2
6.22
7.0

Above timeline shows that Microsoft spent time to develop and market the MS-DOS
from 1980 to 1995. The development cost of MS-DOS was high over the past 15
years.

Conclusion
CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

Tim Paterson was the original author in DOS

MS-DOS was an easy-to-use operating system
Microsoft successfully launched MS-DOS to IBM
and to the PC market
Microsoft kept improving and evolving the MSDOS over the past years
Microsoft integrated MS-DOS with its windows
operating system in 1995

Without the efforts of Microsoft, DOS will not be the popular operating system in
1980s and 1990s. MS-DOS now is integrated in Windows 95, 98, NT, and 2000.

CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

References
A short history of MS-DOS. (2003). Retrieved
February 21, 2003, from http://www.patersontech
.com/Dos/Byte/History.html.
Conner, D. (1998). Father of DOS still having fun
at Microsoft. Retrieved February 21, 2003, from
http://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Micronews
/paterson04_10_98.htm.
DOS timeline. (2003). Retrieved February 21,
2003, from http://www.powerload.fsnet.co.uk
/timeline.htm.
Hunter, D. (2003). Retrieved February 21, 2003,
from http://www.patersontech.com/Dos/Softalk/
Softalk.html.

CS 8422 Advanced Computing Systems, Dr. Hoganson

References
MS-DOS review. (2003). Retrieved February 21,
2003, from http://www.
michaelh.com/comp/msdos.shtml.
Paterson, T. (2003). DOS. Retrieved February 21,
2003, from http://www.patersontech.com/Dos/
Encyclo.htm.
The Dross of the DOS. (1997). Retrieved February
21, 2003, from http://www.forbes.com/asap
/1997/1201/070_print.html.