CP/M, short for control program for
microprocessors, is widely recognized as the first operating system for personal
computers. It was first developed for 8-bit computers by Digital. Since then, there have
been three major releases of CP/M. The final release–3.1–evolved into DR DOS
(DR: Digital Research) This was brought by Novell and came to be known as Novell DOS.
When Ray Noorda left Novell to form Caldera, he took Novell
DOS with him, and called it Caldera DRDOS. Caldera DOS, which is still alive, is a
multitasking operating system aimed at the embedded applications market.
When IBM was developing the PC, they approached Digital to
develop an OS for it. Digital was not interested. IBM went to Microsoft, and the rest, as
they say, is history.
It takes teams of thousands and several years to make
a complete OS. But sometimes, one man stands out from the team, and the OS gets identified
with that one person…
align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5" border="0"> color="#FF0000">Alan Cox
A self-styled kernel hacker who’s acknowledged asLinus’ right-hand man in developing the Linux kernel. Focuses on the SMP and
networking aspects of Linux.
Andrew S Tanenbaum
Professorat Vrije University, Amsterdam, Tanenbaum is one of the authorities on operating systems.
Also wrote Minix, a Unix clone. Professor
at Vrije University, Amsterdam, Tanenbaum is one of the authorities on operating systems.
Also wrote Minix, a Unix clone.
align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5">Bill
Joy
Subsequently, co-founded Sun. Wrote the C-shell, and designed Sun’s network file
system. Currently, chief scientist at Sun.
Brad Silverberg
Theleader of the Windows team at Microsoft. Currently, on extended sabbatical. The
leader of the Windows team at Microsoft. Currently, on extended sabbatical.
David Cutler
Developerof Digital Unix. Later joined Microsoft (1988) as one of the kingpins of the NT
development team. Developer
of Digital Unix. Later joined Microsoft (1988) as one of the kingpins of the NT
development team.
Donna Dubinsky
and color="#FF0000">Jeff Hawkins Kick started the handheld market with the PalmPilot and the PalmOS. Their company, Palm Computing was bought out by US Robotics, which
was taken over by 3Com. Later, they left 3Com to form Handspring, which develops products
for the handheld market. Interestingly, Palm Computing has always had women at the helm of
affairs. and color="#FF0000">Jeff Hawkins Kick started the handheld market with the Palm
Pilot and the PalmOS. Their company, Palm Computing was bought out by US Robotics, which
was taken over by 3Com. Later, they left 3Com to form Handspring, which develops products
for the handheld market. Interestingly, Palm Computing has always had women at the helm of
affairs.
bgcolor="#FFE1F0" align="left">
face="Arial" size="2">MVS (multiple virtual storage) is the OS of the older IBM
mainframes. Introduced in 1974, it has since been replaced by OS/390.
Incidentally, IBM has had a singularly unimaginative way of
naming their operating systems: OS/2, OS 6000, OS 390, and so on.
James Gosling
Developed Java. Though Java is not an OS, it offers OS independence to developers. He is
currently the vice alt="jeanlouisgassee.JPG (6073 bytes)" align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5"> face="Arial" size="2">president at Sun.
Jean Louis Gassé
Themoving force behind the BeOS. The
moving force behind the BeOS.
Ken Thompson
and color="#FF0000">Denis Ritchie color="#FF0000"> Ensured their place amongst the all-time greatsof the computing world by developing Unix.
Linus Benedict Torvalds
Perhapsthe most talked about OS alt="linus.JPG (5455 bytes)" align="left" hspace="5" vspace="5">developer today. Started
developing Linux while a student at the Helsinki University, Finland. Today, he is one of
the leading lights of the free software movement. Linus works at Transmeta, a company
promoted by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. However, not much is known about what
Transmeta is up to.
align="right" hspace="5" vspace="5">Steven
Jobs
MacOS. Left Apple to form Next, and
developed NextStep. Returned to Apple to lead the company back to a remarkable recovery.
MacOS X is being developed during his second tenure at Apple.
align="left">William H Gates Jr
Better known as Bill Gates. The richest man in the world. Wrote the BASIC interpreter and
MS DOS. Is widely accepted to be the visionary behind Windows and other MS products.
size="3">Ramlal Bhagat and his 32-bit "O-Yes"
face="Arial" size="2">
Apparently, Ramlal Bhagat is a 12th
face="Arial" size="2">standard student in Haryana who has developed a superior, graphical, The only problem is that Ramlal has been in the 12th standard for as long Oh-Yes! The scam still surfaces every once in a while in mailing lists, |