4.3 O.S Stories

Microsoft

Created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975 to create and sell an implementation of the BASIC high-level programming language for a particular PC of that time.

Mac OS X is based on Unix.

True

Early versions of Windows were built on top of DOS.

True; Breaking from DOS was hard, and thus for years the most widely used OS in the world, Windows, was based on a rather weak OS that was originally named Quick and Dirty Operating System. (See this Wikipedia for Microsoft's initial attempt to build an OS without DOS).

Steve Jobs has led Apple since he co-founded the company in 1976.

False

Apple developed Mac OS X in house in 1996.

False; Apple bought Jobs' company NeXT and based Mac OS X on the NexTSTEP OS.

Microsoft was formed to build operating

False; Gates and Allen were more excited about implementing the BASIC high-level programming language for a PC.

When IBM asked Gates for an OS for the IBM PC, Gates immediately jumped at the opportunity.

False; Gates declined, sending IBM to another company. When that deal did not work out, IBM returned to Gates.

Microsoft wrote DOS for the IBM PC.

False; Microsoft purchased DOS from another company, and thus did not create the software that would eventually turn them into a major company.

Upon being pushed out in 1985 of the company he had co-founded, Jobs did little until returning to Apple in 1996.

False; While deeply upset, Jobs did not give up, but instead founded NeXT Computer, and also co-founded the incredibly-successful animated movie company Pixar. Jobs' story is a great one of perseverance.

Apple Computer

Jobs and Wozniak founded Apple Computer in 1976 to build personal computers, a new and exciting kind of computer at the time.

NeXT Computer

NeXTSTEP formed the basis for Apple's new OS called Mac OS X, which is the main OS for Apple's computers today