The Original MS-DOS 4.0

From: Douglas Quebbeman <dhquebbeman_at_theestopinalgroup.com>
Date: Wed Jun 28 08:58:03 2000

This might be a topic better posted in the alt.folklore.computers
USENET group, but let me try here first. This is from memory, and
it's not as reliable as I'd like it to be.

IIRC, OS/2 was not Microsoft's first attempt to create a
multitasking operating system. They were working on, and
I believe mostly finished, a DOS 4.0 that was multitasking.
This was not the PC-DOS 4.0 for IBM, nor was it the MS-DOS
4.0 that we finally saw here in the states.

This multitasking DOS 4.0 (from Microsoft, not a third party)
was supplied with a computer that was old only in either the
UK or more widely in Europe. It seems that the first letter
of the computer manufacturer was an 'A', so the machine could
have been an Apricot, an Amstrad, an Acorn, or lord knows.

I read about this machine either in Byte during the late 80s
or in a BIX conference (I MISS BIX!). I've searched the web
for references to this multitasking MS-DOS 4, and have found
nothing.

Does anyone else remember this? Was the Byte article reviewing
a sample of a product that never shipped? Did anyone get their
hands on one? Does anyone have it?

-doug q
Received on Wed Jun 28 2000 - 08:58:03 BST