This historic OS was not stored digitally, so a fleet of historians have transcribed the source code from ancient print-outs in order to make it open source
Microsoft has released the source code for 86-DOS 1.00, a precursor to MS-DOS, on GitHub to preserve computing history. Since the original code was not stored digitally, a team of historians transcribed it from printed documents held by the OS's creator, Tim Paterson. This effort marks a significant milestone in software preservation and highlights the challenges of maintaining early digital artifacts.
- ▪86-DOS 1.00 was originally created by Tim Paterson for an Intel 8086-based computer kit sold by Seattle Computer Products.
- ▪The source code was preserved in printed form and had to be manually transcribed and scanned by a team led by Yufeng Gao and Rich Cini.
- ▪Microsoft previously released open-source versions of MS-DOS 1.25, 2.0, and 4.0, and 86-DOS eventually evolved into MS-DOS after being licensed for the IBM PC 5150.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Software Operating Systems This historic OS was not stored digitally, so a fleet of historians have transcribed the source code from ancient print-outs in order to make it open source News By Jess Kinghorn published 1 May 2026 History painstakingly preserved. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: solar seven via Getty Images) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter I'm dating myself here, but the operating systems I remember most clearly banging my head against in my youth were Windows 95 and Windows XP.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at PC Gamer.
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