MS-DOS (1981) 954 DOS

Originally 86-DOS, written by Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products, DOS was a rough clone of CP/M for 8086 based hardware. Microsoft purchased it and licensed it to IBM for use with Microsoft's IBM PC language products. In 1982, Microsoft began licensing DOS to other OEMs that ported it to their custom x86 hardware and IBM PC clones.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.00
• 3.10
• 3.20
• 3.21
• 3.30
• 3.31
• 4.0x

Microsoft Word (1983) 139 Word Processor DOS OS2

The Microsoft Word word processor was first introduced for MS-DOS in 1983. Its design made use of a mouse and WYSIWYG graphics. Its crude WYSIWYG/mouse support was a direct response to the Apple Lisa/Mac, and VisiCorp Visi On. Initially it competed against many popular word processors such as WordStar, Multimate, and WordPerfect. Word for DOS was never really successful.

• 1.x (DOS)
• 2.x (DOS)
• 3.x (DOS)
• 4.0 (DOS)
• 5.x (DOS and OS/2)

PC-DOS (1981) 97 DOS

IBM PC-DOS was an IBM branded version of MS-DOS licensed from Microsoft for use on the IBM PC system. Versions of PC-DOS paralleled that of MS-DOS up until version 6.1, where PC-DOS was independently maintained by IBM up until 7.1, the last version. Although not the only OS available for the IBM PC when it came out, it quickly became popular due to its low cost in comparison to the others. Its direct competitors on the PC at the time were CP/M-86 and UCSD p-System. The major differences between PC-DOS and MS-DOS were only in terms of driver support and built in programs until version 6.1 where development diverged.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x

Microsoft Works (1986) 86 Word Processor Spreadsheet Communications Database DOS

Microsoft Works was an all-in-one scaled-down Word Processor, Spreadsheet, and Database geared towards the home user. It was released in variants for early DOS, Windows, and Macintosh. Microsoft Works competed against Lotus Jazz, FrameWork, AlphaWorks/LotusWorks, PFS First Choice, and many others.

• 1.x (DOS)

WordPerfect (1983) 81 Word Processor DOS

During the late 1980's, WordPerfect was THE standard word processor for DOS based PCs in big business. Under DOS, it competed mostly against Wordstar. WordPerfect for Windows enjoyed some success in the early Windows environments, but was quickly displaced by Microsoft Word for Windows. Later Windows versions were part of Borland Office/Novell PerfectOffice/Corel Office/Corel WordPerfect Office.

• 3.x (DOS)
• 4.x (DOS)
• 5.0 (DOS)
• 5.1 (DOS)

Borland Turbo Pascal (1983) 70 DOS

Borland Turbo Pascal is a Pascal programming language compiler with an Integrated Development Environment targeted at the hobbyist and entry-level market. There were versions for CP/M and DOS. For a time, it was sold along side their professional "Borland Pascal" product line. Borland also produced a set of "toolbox" libraries along side their earlier versions.

• 1.00
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.x

Norton Commander (1986) 64 Utility DOS

Norton Commander is a MS-DOS based file shell that was widely popular due to it's two column design. You could easily copy and move files between one folder or another, execute DOS commands and more. It competed against many other file managers including Gazelle Q-DOS and Xtree

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x

Lotus 1-2-3 (1983) 53 Spreadsheet DOS

Lotus 1-2-3 was an early spreadsheet application available for MS-DOS. It became extremely popular in the late 1980s, displacing the former leader VisiCalc. Lotus had difficulties adapting 1-2-3 to the Windows environment, and was overtaken by Microsoft Excel. Spreadsheet functionality was also included in Lotus Symphony. Later versions were included in Lotus SmartSuite.

• 1.x (DOS)
• 1A (PCJr Cart)
• 2.x (DOS)
• 3.x (DOS)
• Add-ins

Windows SDK & DDK (1986) 48 DOS

The Microsoft Windows Software Development Kits (SDK) provide sample program code, extra libraries, and documentation to aid application developers producing Windows applications. Microsoft Windows Driver Development Kits are similar sets of samples and libraries but specific to device driver development, and much more in-depth.

• Windows 2.x

WordStar (1981) 40 Word Processor DOS CPM

WordStar, originally from MicroPro, was a popular word processor during the early 80s. It was ported to a number of CP/M architectures as well as Unix and PC/MS-DOS. It competed directly against many word processors, including WordPerfect, Microsoft Word for DOS, and Multimate. By the late 80s most business word processing had moved to WordPerfect. In the early 90s, Microsoft Word for Windows took over.

• 3.30
• for PCjr
• 2000
• 4.0
• 1512
• 5.0
• COLT
• 5.5

dBASE (1983) 37 Database DOS

Ashton-Tate dBase was an early popular database management system for CP/M and MS-DOS. It was regarded as one of the killer applications for CP/M, and achieved good success. At the time of conception Ashton-Tate was a garage based company but quickly grew.

• II v2.x
• III v1.0
• III v1.1
• III Plus v1.0
• III Plus v1.1
• IV v1.0

Microsoft BASIC (1981) 35 DOS CPM OS2

Although Microsoft did not invent BASIC, their founding product was a BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer. The descendants below includes Microsoft's BASIC-80 (MBASIC), BASIC-86 (pre-GWBasic), BASIC for Mac, BASIC Compiler 86/88, Basic Compiler for Mac, and Professional Development System 7.x. IBM Personal Computer Basic Compiler, GW-BASIC, QuickBasic, and Visual Basic are listed separately.

• -86 5.x
• -86 Compiler 5.x
• Compiler 6.0
• PDS 7.0

Microsoft Macro Assembler (1981) 32 DOS

The Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) is an x86 assembler that uses the Intel syntax for MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows. For a time, it competed with Borland Turbo Assembler. IBM re-branded early versions under the name IBM Macro Assembler. Later versions were bundled with Microsoft Visual Studio.

• 1.x
• 3.x
• 4.x
• 5.x

Borland Turbo C (1987) 31 DOS

Turbo C is an Integrated Development Environment and compiler for the C programming language from Borland. First introduced in 1987, it was noted for its integrated development environment, small size, fast compile speed, comprehensive manuals and low price. After 2.0 it this product was replaced with Borland Turbo C++. It competed against, Microsoft Quick C and was generally considered faster and more successful.

• 1.x
• 2.x

Borland Turbo Assembler (1989) 30 DOS

Turbo Assembler is an x86 16-bit assembler from Borland. It competed against, and was often cited as faster than Microsoft Macro Assembler.

• 1.x

Microsoft Mouse (1984) 29 DOS Windows OS2

These are drivers provided by Microsoft for the Microsoft BusPort, serial, and PS/2 mice. Introduced in 1983, The Microsoft Mouse is historically important as it was one of Microsoft's earliest hardware products (The other being an Apple II Z-80 CP/M card). The first Mouse for the IBM PC was actually from Mouse Systems, not Microsoft. However, most clone mice emulated Microsoft's serial protocol and DOS driver software interface. The first Microsoft application designed to make full use of the mouse was Microsoft Word for DOS, and they hyped a product called "Microsoft Windows" (not released until several years later) that was to compete against the upcoming Apple Macintosh and the Mouse Systems based Viscorp Visi On.

• 1.0
• 2.x
• 4.x
• 5.x
• 6.x
• 7.x

Zenith MS-DOS Programmer's Utility Pack (1984) 25 DOS

The Zenith Programmer's Utility Pack for MS-DOS contains source code and compiler utilities needed for building an MS-DOS BIOS (IO.SYS file) for use with the Zenith Z-100 (not IBM hardware compatible), the Zenith Z-100 PC (IBM hardware compatible), and the Zenith Z-100 PC running in Z-100 compatibility mode.

• 2
• 3

Microsoft C/C++ (1983) 24 DOS

This is the original standalone Microsoft C/C++ compiler for DOS and Windows - Later versions were rebranded and renumbered as Microsoft Visual C++ and were bundled with Visual Studio or the SDKs.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.x
• 4.0
• 5.x

QuickBasic (1985) 22 DOS

Microsoft QuickBasic, not to be confused with the lesser QBasic, was a Basic interpreter and compiler product loosely based on GW-Basic. Version 2.0 for DOS and later included an Integrated Development Environment. Microsoft also produced QuickPascal and QuickC with similar integrated environments.

• 1.x
• 2.x
• 3.0
• 4.0
• 4.5

Framework (1984) 22 Word Processor Spreadsheet Graphics Communications Database DOS

Originally created by Forefront Corporation for Ashton-Tate and first released in 1984, Framework was an early integrated office suite for DOS. It has a built in word processor, spreadsheet, database, outliner, graphing, and telecommunications.

• 1.0
• Premier 1.x
• II
• III

Turbo Pascal Toolbox (1985) 22 DOS CPM

The Borland Turbo Pascal Toolbox consists of several sets of sample source code for different purposes. They are designed for use in conjunction with the Turbo Pascal Compiler product. The sets include Turbo Graphix Toobox, Turbo Database Toolbox, Turbo GameWorks Tooolbox (new in 1986 with TP 3), and Turbo Editor Toolbox (new in 1986 with TP 3). Also see the Turbo Pascal Tutor.

• 1.x
• 4.0

Norton Utilities (1983) 20 Utility DOS

The Norton Utilities is a suite of disk and system utilities designed to enhance system performance and stability. It started off as a set of disk utilities written by Peter Norton, and later was sold by Symantec. It competed against Central Point PC Tools and the Mace Utilities. In 2003, Norton Utilities was merged with Norton SystemWorks, but later split back out.

• 2.0x
• 3.00
• 3.10
• 4.0
• 4.5

CheckIt (1988) 18 Utility DOS

CheckIt, from TouchStone Software Corporation, is a diagnostic tool for generic PC/XT/AT compatible computers. It can perform tests on RAM, hard disks, video cards, floppy disks, motherboard resources, and I/O devices. It has an easy to use menu interface but can also run tests non-interactively. It was followed up by the product WINCheckit.

• 1.x
• 2.1

DOS Plus (1986) 16 DOS

Digital Research's DOS Plus was an intermediate product between CP/M-86 and DR-DOS. It can run both CP/M-86 and MS-DOS programs, and read both disk formats. It is essentially a stripped down version of Concurrent DOS that keeps the DOS compatiblity.

• 1.x
• 2.x

DESQView (1984) 15 Utility DOS

DESQView, from Quarterdeck, was a DOS application multi-tasker and in later versions functioned as an X client for applications on remote UNIX systems. It competed against IBM Topview. The original DESQ was just a task switcher, but subsequent versions offered preemptive multitasking of well behaved DOS programs on real-mode 8088 PCs. It gained popularity when DESQView 386 added virtual x86 support. This enabled the ability to multi task many poorly behaved programs, and was often used on BBSes due to its excellent COM port handling. It was later overtaken by OS/2 and Windows.

• 1.x