MS DOS & Windows operating systems

MS-DOS

MS-DOS, in full Microsoft Disk Operating System, the dominant operating system for the personal computer (PC) throughout the 1980s. The acquisition and marketing of MS-DOS were pivotal in the Microsoft Corporation’s transition to software industry giant.

American computer programmer Timothy Paterson, a developer for Seattle Computer Products,  Intel Corporation’s 8086 microprocessor in 1980, initially calling it QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System), which was soon renamed 86-DOS. A year later, fledgling company Microsoft purchased exclusive rights to sell the system, renamed MS-DOS, to IBM for their newly developed IBM-PC. IBM-compatible versions were marketed as PC-DOS. Version 1.0 was released in 1981; additional upgraded versions kept pace with the rapidly evolving PC. Windows 95, introduced by Microsoft in 1995, incorporated MS-DOS 7.0 but ultimately superseded the MS-DOS platform. Starting with Windows NT, Microsoft’s operating systems were designed independently of MS-DOS, though they were capable of running some MS-DOS applications.

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Although MS-DOS enjoyed enormous popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, the technology did not always keep pace with its competition. The system lacked the multitasking, multiuser capabilities of the UNIX operating system; and MS-DOS was limited to a command line interface, in contrast to the user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI) of the early Macintosh computer from Apple Inc. Although MS-DOS ceased to be marketed as a stand-alone operating system, the relatively simple, stable platform is still used in some embedded computer systems.

Following are some of the distinguishing features of MS-DOS :

1.     MS-DOS is 16 bit operating system.

2.     DOS is simple text command operating system, it does not support graphical interface

3.     MS-DOS is a single user operating system

4.     It lacks multitasking.

5.     DOS uses a text based interface and requires text and codes to operate

6.     DOS does not support multiprogramming this mean that it can only have only one process in the RAM at a time

7.     The highest amount of storage space available is 2 GB

8.     DOS is a free OS

Windows 

Windows OS, computer operating system (OS) developed by Microsoft Corporation to run personal computers (PCs). Featuring the first graphical user interface (GUI) for IBM-compatible PCs, the Windows OS soon dominated the PC market. Approximately 90 percent of PCs run some version of Windows.

The first version of Windows, released in 1985, was simply a GUI offered as an extension of Microsoft’s existing disk operating system, or MS-DOS. Based in part on licensed concepts that Apple Inc. had used for its Macintosh System Software, Windows for the first time allowed DOS users to visually navigate a virtual desktop, opening graphical “windows” displaying the contents of electronic folders and files with the click of a mouse button, rather than typing commands and directory paths at a text prompt.

Subsequent versions introduced greater functionality, including native Windows File Manager, Program Manager, and Print Manager programs, and a more dynamic interface. Microsoft also developed specialized Windows packages, including the networkable Windows for Workgroups and the high-powered Windows NT, aimed at businesses. The 1995 consumer release Windows 95 fully integrated Windows and DOS and offered built-in Internet support, including the World Wide Webbrowser Internet Explorer.

With the 2001 release of Windows XP, Microsoft united its various Windows packages under a single banner, offering multiple editions for consumers, businesses, multimedia developers, and others. Windows XP abandoned the long-used Windows 95 kernel (core software code) for a more powerful code base and offered a more practical interface and improved application and memory management. The highly successful XP standard was succeeded in late 2006 by Windows Vista, which experienced a troubled rollout and met with considerable marketplace resistance, quickly acquiring a reputation for being a large, slow, and resource-consuming system. Responding to Vista’s disappointing adoption rate, Microsoft in 2009 released Windows 7, an OS whose interface was similar to that of Vista but was met with enthusiasm for its noticeable speed improvement and its modest system requirements.

Windows 8 in 2012 offered a start screen with applications appearing as tiles on a grid and the ability to synchronize settings so users could log on to another Windows 8 machine and use their preferred settings. In 2015 Microsoft released Windows 10, which came with Cortana, a digital personal assistant like Apple’s Siri, and the Web browser Microsoft Edge, which replaced Internet Explorer. Microsoft also announced that Windows 10 would be the last version of Windows, meaning that users would receive regular updates to the OS but that no more large-scale revisions would be done.

MS DOS vs Windows

	DOS	Windows
Definition	DOS (Disk Operating System) are simple text command operating systems that were popular from 1981 to 1995.	Windows is a range of graphical interface operating systems that are developed and sold by Microsoft.
GUI	DOS used a text based interface that required text and codes to operate	Windows uses graphics, images and text.
Input System	Text is used as the basic input system commands.	Uses a mouse for all operating system input.
Multitasking	DOS is unable to run multiple processes at the same time.	Windows is a multitasking operating system; allowing more than one process to work simultaneously.
Storage Size	The highest amount of storage size available is 2GB.	Window systems offer storage space up to 2 terabyte.
Demands on System Resources	Booting up system is DOS is less demanding on the CPU.	Booting up Windows is more demanding on the CPU.
Registry and Swap Files	DOS uses a directory system, where all the files are contained within a particular directory or a subdirectory.	Windows uses a different registry compared to DOS, making it difficult to manually delete programs. An excessive number of temporary files and file fragments can cause the system to slow down or crash.
Current Uses	More ideally used for prototyping, testing, and making automated systems.	Used worldwide as the most popular operating system.
Price	DOS is free	Windows is costly