Digital Research
Encyclopedia
Digital Research, Inc. (aka DR or DRI; originally Intergalactic Digital Research) was the company created by Dr. Gary Kildall
to market and develop his CP/M
operating system
and related products. It was the first large software company in the microcomputer
world. Digital Research was based in Pacific Grove, California
.
The company's operating systems, starting with CP/M for 8080
/Z80
-based microcomputers, were the de facto
standard of their era, as MS-DOS
and MS Windows
came later. DR's product suite included the original CP/M and its various offshoots; DR-DOS
which was a MS-DOS
compatible version of CP/M, and MP/M
, the multi-user CP/M. The first 16-bit system was CP/M-86
, which was to be unsuccessful in competition with MS-DOS
. There followed Concurrent CP/M, a single-user version of the multi-tasking MP/M-86 featuring "virtual consoles" from which applications could be launched to run concurrently. Successive revisions of this system, which gradually supported MS-DOS applications and the FAT filesystem, were labelled Concurrent DOS, Concurrent DOS XM and Concurrent DOS 386
.
In 1985, soon after the introduction of the Intel 80286
, Digital Research introduced a real-time system, initially called Concurrent DOS 286 and subsequently FlexOS
. This exploited the greater memory addressing capability of the new CPU
to provide a more flexible multi-tasking environment. There was a small but powerful set of system API
s, each with a synchronous and an asynchronous variant. Pipes
were supported, and all named resources could be aliased by setting Environment variables. This system was to enjoy enduring favour in point-of-sale systems and was adopted by the IBM 4690 OS
.
Digital Research was purchased by Novell
in 1991, primarily for Novell to gain access to the OS line.
DR produced a selection of programming language
compiler
s and interpreter
s for their OS-supported platforms, including C
, Pascal, COBOL
, Forth, PL/I
, PL/M
, BASIC, and Logo. They also produced a microcomputer version of the GKS
graphics standard (related to NAPLPS
) called GSX, and later used this as the basis of their GEM
GUI
. Less known are their application programs, limited largely to the GSX-based DR DRAW, Dr. Halo for DOS and a small suite of GUI programs for GEM.
microprocessor as the standard operating system for the PC, which used the code-compatible Intel 8088
chip. DR, which had the dominant OS system of the day, was uneasy about the agreement with IBM and refused, Microsoft
seized this opportunity to supply the OS in addition to other software (e.g. BASIC) for the new IBM PC. When the IBM PC arrived in late 1981, it came with PC-DOS
, which was developed from 86-DOS, which Microsoft
acquired for this purpose. By mid-1982, it was marketed as MS-DOS
for use in hardware compatible non-IBM computers. This one decision resulted in Microsoft becoming the leading name in computer software. This story is detailed from Microsoft and IBM's point of view in the PBS series Triumph of the Nerds and from Gary Kildall's friends and coworkers point of view on The Computer Chronicles.
Digital Research developed CP/M-86
as an alternative to MS-DOS and it was made available through IBM in early 1982. DR later created an MS-DOS clone with advanced features called DR-DOS
, which pressured Microsoft to further improve its own DOS. The competition between MS-DOS and DR-DOS is one of the more controversial chapters of microcomputer history. Microsoft offered the best licensing terms to computer manufacturers that committed to selling MS-DOS with every processor they shipped, making it uneconomical for them to offer both systems. This practice led to a 1994 government antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft that barred it from per-processor licensing. DRI (and later its successor Caldera
, Inc.) accused Microsoft of announcing vaporware
versions of MS-DOS to suppress sales of DR-DOS. Microsoft refused to support DR-DOS in Windows
; in one beta release of Windows 3.1, Microsoft included code that detected DR-DOS and displayed a warning message. However this code was not included in the final version of windows 3.1. It is said that other versions of Windows deliberately crashed the system if DR-DOS was detected so as to give the impression that DR-DOS was unstable. These activities came to light when the discovery process of the subsequent lawsuit uncovered emails from senior Microsoft executives that showed this time bomb plant was part of a concerted program to drive DRI out of the PC operating systems business. DRI's successor Caldera
raised these disputes in a 1996 lawsuit, but the case was settled without a trial. As a condition of the settlement Microsoft paid Caldera $150 million and Caldera destroyed all documents it had produced in connection with the case. Although a costly settlement to Microsoft, this eliminated the most damning evidence of Microsoft's anti-trust behaviours, and allowed Microsoft to control and dominate this sector of the marketplace without concerns about any further serious competitor.
Gary Kildall
Gary Arlen Kildall was an American computer scientist and microcomputer entrepreneur who created the CP/M operating system and founded Digital Research, Inc....
to market and develop his CP/M
CP/M
CP/M was a mass-market operating system created for Intel 8080/85 based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
and related products. It was the first large software company in the microcomputer
Microcomputer
A microcomputer is a computer with a microprocessor as its central processing unit. They are physically small compared to mainframe and minicomputers...
world. Digital Research was based in Pacific Grove, California
Pacific Grove, California
Pacific Grove is a coastal city in Monterey County, California, USA, with a population of 15,041 as of the 2010 census, down from 15,522 as of the 2000 census...
.
The company's operating systems, starting with CP/M for 8080
Intel 8080
The Intel 8080 was the second 8-bit microprocessor designed and manufactured by Intel and was released in April 1974. It was an extended and enhanced variant of the earlier 8008 design, although without binary compatibility...
/Z80
Zilog Z80
The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog and sold from July 1976 onwards. It was widely used both in desktop and embedded computer designs as well as for military purposes...
-based microcomputers, were the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
standard of their era, as MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and MS Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
came later. DR's product suite included the original CP/M and its various offshoots; DR-DOS
DR-DOS
DR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...
which was a MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
compatible version of CP/M, and MP/M
MP/M
MP/M was a multi-user version of the CP/M operating system, created by Digital Research developer Tom Rolander in 1979. It allowed multiple users to connect to a single computer, each using a separate terminal....
, the multi-user CP/M. The first 16-bit system was CP/M-86
CP/M-86
CP/M-86 was a version of the CP/M operating system that Digital Research made for the Intel 8086 and Intel 8088. The commands are those of CP/M-80. Executable files used the relocatable .CMD file format...
, which was to be unsuccessful in competition with MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
. There followed Concurrent CP/M, a single-user version of the multi-tasking MP/M-86 featuring "virtual consoles" from which applications could be launched to run concurrently. Successive revisions of this system, which gradually supported MS-DOS applications and the FAT filesystem, were labelled Concurrent DOS, Concurrent DOS XM and Concurrent DOS 386
Multiuser DOS
Multiuser DOS is a soft real-time multi-user multi-tasking operating system for IBM PC-compatible microcomputers.An evolution of the older Concurrent CP/M-86 and Concurrent DOS operating systems, it was originally developed by Digital Research and later further developed by Novell...
.
In 1985, soon after the introduction of the Intel 80286
Intel 80286
The Intel 80286 , introduced on 1 February 1982, was a 16-bit x86 microprocessor with 134,000 transistors. Like its contemporary simpler cousin, the 80186, it could correctly execute most software written for the earlier Intel 8086 and 8088...
, Digital Research introduced a real-time system, initially called Concurrent DOS 286 and subsequently FlexOS
FlexOS
FlexOS was a modular real-time multi-user multi-tasking operating system designed for computer-integrated manufacturing, laboratory, retail and financial markets...
. This exploited the greater memory addressing capability of the new CPU
Central processing unit
The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...
to provide a more flexible multi-tasking environment. There was a small but powerful set of system API
Application programming interface
An application programming interface is a source code based specification intended to be used as an interface by software components to communicate with each other...
s, each with a synchronous and an asynchronous variant. Pipes
Named pipe
In computing, a named pipe is an extension to the traditional pipe concept on Unix and Unix-like systems, and is one of the methods of inter-process communication. The concept is also found in Microsoft Windows, although the semantics differ substantially...
were supported, and all named resources could be aliased by setting Environment variables. This system was to enjoy enduring favour in point-of-sale systems and was adopted by the IBM 4690 OS
IBM 4690 OS
IBM 4690 Operating System, sometimes shortened to 4690 OS or 4690, is IBM's specially designed Point of Sale operating system. 4690 is widely used by IBM's retail customers to drive retail systems running their own applications as well as IBM's Application Client Server Environment , Supermarket...
.
Digital Research was purchased by Novell
Novell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
in 1991, primarily for Novell to gain access to the OS line.
DR produced a selection of programming language
Programming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
compiler
Compiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
s and interpreter
Interpreter (computing)
In computer science, an interpreter normally means a computer program that executes, i.e. performs, instructions written in a programming language...
s for their OS-supported platforms, including C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, Pascal, COBOL
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....
, Forth, PL/I
PL/I
PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications...
, PL/M
PL/M
The PL/M programming languageis a high-level language developed byGary Kildall in 1972 for Intel for its microprocessors....
, BASIC, and Logo. They also produced a microcomputer version of the GKS
Graphical Kernel System
The Graphical Kernel System was the first ISO standard for low-level computer graphics, introduced in 1977. GKS provides a set of drawing features for two-dimensional vector graphics suitable for charting and similar duties...
graphics standard (related to NAPLPS
NAPLPS
NAPLPS is a graphics language for use originally with videotex and teletext services. NAPLPS was developed from the Telidon system developed in Canada, with a small number of additions from AT&T...
) called GSX, and later used this as the basis of their GEM
Graphical Environment Manager
GEM was a windowing system created by Digital Research, Inc. for use with the CP/M operating system on the Intel 8088 and Motorola 68000 microprocessors...
GUI
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
. Less known are their application programs, limited largely to the GSX-based DR DRAW, Dr. Halo for DOS and a small suite of GUI programs for GEM.
CP/M-86 and DOS
When the IBM Personal Computer was being developed, DR was asked to supply a version of CP/M written for the Intel 8086Intel 8086
The 8086 is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and mid-1978, when it was released. The 8086 gave rise to the x86 architecture of Intel's future processors...
microprocessor as the standard operating system for the PC, which used the code-compatible Intel 8088
Intel 8088
The Intel 8088 microprocessor was a variant of the Intel 8086 and was introduced on July 1, 1979. It had an 8-bit external data bus instead of the 16-bit bus of the 8086. The 16-bit registers and the one megabyte address range were unchanged, however...
chip. DR, which had the dominant OS system of the day, was uneasy about the agreement with IBM and refused, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
seized this opportunity to supply the OS in addition to other software (e.g. BASIC) for the new IBM PC. When the IBM PC arrived in late 1981, it came with PC-DOS
PC-DOS
IBM PC DOS is a DOS system for the IBM Personal Computer and compatibles, manufactured and sold by IBM from the 1980s to the 2000s....
, which was developed from 86-DOS, which Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
acquired for this purpose. By mid-1982, it was marketed as MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
for use in hardware compatible non-IBM computers. This one decision resulted in Microsoft becoming the leading name in computer software. This story is detailed from Microsoft and IBM's point of view in the PBS series Triumph of the Nerds and from Gary Kildall's friends and coworkers point of view on The Computer Chronicles.
Digital Research developed CP/M-86
CP/M-86
CP/M-86 was a version of the CP/M operating system that Digital Research made for the Intel 8086 and Intel 8088. The commands are those of CP/M-80. Executable files used the relocatable .CMD file format...
as an alternative to MS-DOS and it was made available through IBM in early 1982. DR later created an MS-DOS clone with advanced features called DR-DOS
DR-DOS
DR-DOS is an MS-DOS-compatible operating system for IBM PC-compatible personal computers, originally developed by Gary Kildall's Digital Research and derived from Concurrent PC DOS 6.0, which was an advanced successor of CP/M-86...
, which pressured Microsoft to further improve its own DOS. The competition between MS-DOS and DR-DOS is one of the more controversial chapters of microcomputer history. Microsoft offered the best licensing terms to computer manufacturers that committed to selling MS-DOS with every processor they shipped, making it uneconomical for them to offer both systems. This practice led to a 1994 government antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft that barred it from per-processor licensing. DRI (and later its successor Caldera
Caldera (company)
Caldera was a US-based software company founded in 1994 to develop Linux- and DOS-based operating system products.- Caldera :Caldera, Inc...
, Inc.) accused Microsoft of announcing vaporware
Vaporware
Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. Vaporware is also a term sometimes used to describe events that are announced or predicted,...
versions of MS-DOS to suppress sales of DR-DOS. Microsoft refused to support DR-DOS in Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
; in one beta release of Windows 3.1, Microsoft included code that detected DR-DOS and displayed a warning message. However this code was not included in the final version of windows 3.1. It is said that other versions of Windows deliberately crashed the system if DR-DOS was detected so as to give the impression that DR-DOS was unstable. These activities came to light when the discovery process of the subsequent lawsuit uncovered emails from senior Microsoft executives that showed this time bomb plant was part of a concerted program to drive DRI out of the PC operating systems business. DRI's successor Caldera
Caldera (company)
Caldera was a US-based software company founded in 1994 to develop Linux- and DOS-based operating system products.- Caldera :Caldera, Inc...
raised these disputes in a 1996 lawsuit, but the case was settled without a trial. As a condition of the settlement Microsoft paid Caldera $150 million and Caldera destroyed all documents it had produced in connection with the case. Although a costly settlement to Microsoft, this eliminated the most damning evidence of Microsoft's anti-trust behaviours, and allowed Microsoft to control and dominate this sector of the marketplace without concerns about any further serious competitor.