A silly new app has been doing the rounds this week: Windows 95 as a standalone application. Running on Windows, macOS, and Linux, the Windows 95 "app" combines Electron (a framework for building desktop applications using JavaScript and other Web technology) with an existing x86 emulator written in JavaScript. The emulator can run a bunch of operating systems: for the app, it's preloaded with Windows 95.
This is, of course, software piracy. The developer of the app has no rights to distribute Windows 95 like this, and I'm a little surprised that the app hasn't been yanked from GitHub yet. And for now, the app is just a toy; there's no real reason to run Windows 95 like this, other than the novelty factor of it actually working.
But Windows 95 (and software that runs on or requires Windows 95) was an important piece of computing history. I think a case could be made that it's Microsoft's most important Windows release of all time, and its influence continues to be felt today. Not only was it technically important as an essential stepping stone from the world of 16-bit DOS and Windows 3.x to 32-bit Windows NT, and not only did it introduce a user interface that's largely stayed with us for more than 20 years—Windows 95 was also a major consumer event as people lined up to buy the thing as soon as it was available. A full understanding of the computing landscape today can't really be had without running, using, and understanding Windows 95.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Nuke on Sunday August 26 2018, @07:59PM (1 child)
Killdall did not write DOS, nor was it written by a hobbyist. The original PC-DOS operating system was written by Tim Paterson while working for Seattle Computer Products [SCP] for their own 8086 CPU board (a micro computer kit component). Microsoft bought DOS from SCP and hired Paterson to adapt it for the IBM PC. They then sold it at a massive profit to IBM and other PC makers. Later, SCP successfully sued Microsoft for misrepresenting the intended use at the time of the sale.
Killdall wrote the rival CP/M system, which was also available for the early IBM PC, but it failed as being priced too high.
http://www.patersontech.com/dos/byte%E2%80%93history.aspx [patersontech.com]
http://www.billgatesmyths.org.uk/dos.html [billgatesmyths.org.uk]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Arik on Sunday August 26 2018, @09:02PM
The hobbyist in question. And yes, he was a hobbyist. Anyone that was competent to port CP/M at the time would have been described as a hobbyist, even if they were also a working professional. And he did indeed describe it as a 'quick and dirty' hack of CP/M for the new processor. And he did indeed have a printout of the CP/M source code available for a starting point.
Since they settled all the exhibits from trial is sealed, but the outcome itself seems a pretty strong indication that large parts of it were copied wholesale in the process.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?