OpenDOS
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| OpenDOS | |
| No Screenshot Available |
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| OS family | DOS |
|---|---|
| Source model | Closed source |
| Latest stable release | 7.03 / |
| Default user interface | Command line interface |
OpenDOS is a freeware DOS-like and MS-DOS-compatible operating system. It is not "free software" following the definition by the Free Software Foundation but it is available for private usage including source code at no cost to the user.
It was originally Digital Research's DR-DOS. Shortly after the release of DR-DOS 6, Digital Research was acquired by Novell, who rebranded the product Novell DOS. The next version was marketed as Novell DOS 7.
The DOS product line was then sold off to a separate company, at that time known as Caldera Systems, owned by former Novell CEO Ray Noorda's investment firm The Canopy Group. Caldera renamed Novell DOS to OpenDOS and initiated a program of source code release, to link OpenDOS to Caldera's other OS, OpenLinux, a distribution of the Linux Unix-like OS.
Caldera released a free version of OpenDOS for non-commercial and evaluation use.
The initial source code released by Caldera was for version 7.01. Only the source code to OpenDOS 7.02 remains available and the company later took development back in-house. However, this is still available for download at no charge. It is more compatible with real MS-DOS than is the GPL-licensed FreeDOS, for example, and can run Windows 3.1 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 as well or better than Microsoft's own product. Indeed, Caldera claimed that it had managed to get Windows 95 booting and running on top of OpenDOS in its internal labs, though this was never publicly released.
Subsequently, the DOS and embedded Linux division of Caldera was spun off into a separate company, Lineo. Lineo realised that the old name of DR-DOS still had more market awareness than any of the other names. After OpenDOS version 7.02 was released, the product was briefly renamed to "DR-OpenDOS" (which quickly became pronounced as "droppin' DOS"). Soon after DR-OpenDOS 7.02 was released, the product was given back its former moniker, being released as "Caldera DR-DOS 7.03".
