MS-DOS is a discontinued16-bit computeroperating system byMicrosoft Corporation. It stands for "Microsoft Disk Operating System". The operating system implements acommand-line interface for the user to input commands (which ran from disk). It was popularly used inPCs beforeGUI operating systems, such asMicrosoft Windows, came out, and still is used in some places today.
MS-DOS is a text-based operating system, meaning that a user works with a keyboard to input data and receives output in plain text. Later, MS-DOSprograms were often made to allow control by using amouse and graphics (even without additionally running Microsoft Windows) especially for video games or to make work more simple and quick (some people still believe that working without graphics is really more efficient).
MS-DOS is called adisk operating system because it was mainly made to interact with the disk (to implement afile system for users and programs); it was loaded into a computer's memory with afloppy disk each time the computer is started (booted) up.
MS-DOS was released as proprietary software, but decades later after most users had gone to other systems, it was released as free software.[2]
MS-DOS stands for "Microsoft Disk Operating System", and came from an operating system Microsoft bought called 86-DOS, originally called QDOS, or "Quick and Dirty Operating System."
OS/2 was made to replace MS-DOS, but that replacement did not succeed. MS-DOS was used to run the Windows operating systems until an operating system known asWindows XP.
Many books were written on how to use MS-DOS. A popular introductory book wasMS-DOS for Dummies, by Dan Gookin, the book in theFor Dummies series of easy to follow instruction books.
