DOS

This article is about a family of operating systems. For the concept, see disk operating system. For the type of cyber attack, see DoS. For other uses, see DOS (disambiguation).
"WinDOS" redirects here. Not to be confused with Microsoft Windows.

The boot screen and command-line interface of MS-DOS 6, with an example of its directory structure
The boot screen and command-line interface of FreeDOS, showing version information and an example of its directory structure

DOS (/dɒs/, /dɔːs/) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers.[1] The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible systems from other manufacturers include DR-DOS (1988), ROM-DOS (1989), PTS-DOS (1993), and FreeDOS (1998). MS-DOS dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995.

Although the name has come to be identified specifically with this particular family of operating systems, DOS is a platform-independent acronym for disk operating system,[2] whose use predates the IBM PC. Dozens of other operating systems also use the acronym, beginning with the mainframe DOS/360 from 1966. Others include Apple DOS, Apple ProDOS, Atari DOS, Commodore DOS, TRSDOS, and AmigaDOS.

  1. ^ Murdock, Everett (1988). DOS the Easy Way. EasyWay Downloadable Books. ISBN 0-923178-00-7.
  2. ^ Dictionary.com Archived 2017-11-12 at the Wayback Machine