RenoGeek's Computer Terms Glossary - DOS

DOS or the "Disk Operating System".
DOS was first used by IBM compatible computers (IBM and IBM-Clones). It was originally labled (PC-DOS) and was the version IBM Licensed from Microsoft.

Microsoft later rebranded it as "MS-DOS" and was bundled with many systems. DOS uses a command line driven or text-based user interface. Where commands are typed out and executed.

All versions of Windows up to XP, actually ran on top of DOS. This is why so many DOS-related files (such as .INI, .DLL, and .COM files) are still in use on later versions of Windows like Vista and 7.

A psudeo DOS is still included with Windows, (CMD, aka command prompt) but is now run from inside Windows instead of Windows being run from DOS.

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