Business Operating System

Business Operating System

Infobox OS
name = Business Operating System



caption =
developer = CAP Ltd
source_model =
kernel_type = p-code virtual machine
supported_platforms = Intel 8080, Motorola 6800, Zilog Z80, PDP-11, VAX
ui = Command line interface
family = p-code operating systems
released = 1981
latest_release_version =
latest_release_date =
latest_test_version =
latest_test_date =
marketing_target =
programmed_in = BOS/MicroCobol (based on COBOL with some similarities to Pascal)
prog_language =
language = English
updatemodel =
package_manager =
working_state =
license =
website = [http://www.global3000.com/g2000.html Global 2000]
The Business Operating System, or BOS, is an early cross-platform operating system originally produced for Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800 computers, subsequently for Zilog Z80-based computers, and then later for most microcomputers of the 1980s. CAP Ltd, a British company and at the time one of the world's largest Information Technology consulting firms, developed BOS. CAP designed BOS and BOS applications for platform-independence.

Via a management buyout MBO in 1981, BOS was spun off to three interlinked companies, MPSL (MicroProducts Software Ltd) which looked after the sales and marketing of BOS, MPPL (MicroProducts Programming Ltd) which looked after both the development of BOS and various horizontal software package and MicroProducts Training Ltd. BOS was distributed on a global basis, mainly to the US and British Commonwealth by a variety of independent and MPSL owned companies.

A small dealer/ distributor network along with its command line interface nature was its demise when graphical user interface operating systems became prevalent.

MPSL developed numerous products for BOS, generally targeting the horizontal markets, leaving the vertical markets (i.e. niche) to independent software vendors ISV. Examples of MPSL developed software include BOS/Finder (database), BOS/Planner (spreadsheet), BOS/Writer (word processor) and BOS/AutoClerk (report generation). Companies sold various BOS accounting software suites in the UK and U.S.. In the UK, BOS accounting packages were considered to be the industry standard by some accountants.

BOS applications were compiled to a "p-code" and interpreted as they ran. BOS had a p-code interpreter so efficient that programs, even the BOS/Writer word processor, ran sufficiently fast to satisfy users. Apart from a 2-kilobyte (Kb) server (computing)/host kernel, BOS is written in BOS/MicroCobol, a language based on COBOL but with system level programming constructs added and elements of structured programming, which bore a vague similarity to Pascal. In recent computing, programming languages such as Java have re-introduced the concept of p-code "virtual machines".

BOS required 48 Kb of RAM and two 250 Kb floppies, though it was more commonly deployed on machines equipped with 64 kilobytes of RAM and a hard drive. A computer with 128 KB RAM and a 10-megabyte (Mb) hard drive could run as many as five concurrent users. When the IBM PC XT came out in 1983, BOS served over eight concurrent dumb terminals on it. At the time, this made BOS very attractive.

With user-management tools and application programming interfaces, BOS was considered an alternative even to the platform-specific operating systems on machines such as the PDP-11 and the VAX.

Despite, or because of its command line interface, BOS remains popular with medium to large organizations in the UK.Fact|date=September 2008

References

* [http://www.global3000.com/comphist.html History of BOS Software Ltd]
* [http://www.atarimagazines.com/startspe1/business.html STart Magazine: Business Operating System on Atari ST]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Operating system — Operating systems …   Wikipedia

  • operating system — Computers. the collection of software that directs a computer s operations, controlling and scheduling the execution of other programs, and managing storage, input/output, and communication resources. Abbr.: OS [1960 65] * * * ▪ computing… …   Universalium

  • Operating System — Ein Betriebssystem ist die Software, die die Verwendung (den Betrieb) eines Computers ermöglicht. Es verwaltet Betriebsmittel wie Speicher, Ein und Ausgabegeräte und steuert die Ausführung von Programmen. Betriebssystem heißt auf Englisch… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Copland (operating system) — Copland was a project at Apple Computer to create an updated version of the Macintosh operating system. It was to have introduced protected memory, preemptive multitasking and a number of new underlying operating system features, yet still be… …   Wikipedia

  • Mobile operating system — A mobile operating system, also known as a mobile OS, mobile software platform or a handheld operating system, is the operating system that controls a mobile device or information appliance similar in principle to an operating system such as… …   Wikipedia

  • Ubuntu (operating system) — Ubuntu Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) Company / developer …   Wikipedia

  • Pick operating system — Company / developer Don Nelson, Dick Pick, TRW Programmed in Assembly language Initial release 1965 (GIRLS), 1973 (Reality Operating System) Marketing target Business data processing Available …   Wikipedia

  • Android (operating system) — Android …   Wikipedia

  • Spring (operating system) — Spring was an experimental microkernel based object oriented operating system developed at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s. Using technology substantially similar to concepts developed in the Mach kernel, Spring concentrated on providing a… …   Wikipedia

  • Disk operating system — Dieser Artikel behandelt Betriebssysteme. Weitere Bedeutungen der Abkürzung DOS findet man unter Dos. Als Disk Operating System [dɪsk ˈɒpəɹeɪtɪŋ ˈsɪstəm] (kurz DOS) werden kleine und einfache Betriebssysteme für Computer bezeichnet, deren… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”