This article provides a brief timeline for the evolution of operating systems. For a narrative explaining the overall developments, see the History of operating systems.

1940s

1949

• EDSAC was an early computer developed by Maurice Wilkes and manufactured by the University of Cambridge

1950s

1951

• LEO I 'Lyons Electronic Office' was the commercial development of EDSAC computing platform, supported by British firm J. Lyons and Co.

1953

• DYSEAC - an early machine capable of distributing computing

1955

• General Motors Operating System made for IBM 701

• MIT's Tape Director operating system made for UNIVAC 1103

1956

• GM-NAA I/O for IBM 704, based on General Motors Operating System

1957

• Atlas Supervisor (Manchester University) (Atlas computer project start)

• BESYS (Bell Labs), for IBM 704, later IBM 7090 and IBM 7094

1958

• EDSAC 2

• University of Michigan Executive System (UMES), for IBM 704, 709, and 7090

1959

• SHARE Operating System (SOS), based on GM-NAA I/O

1960s

1960

• IBSYS (IBM for its 7090 and 7094)

1961

• CTSS demonstration (MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System for the IBM 7094)

• MCP (Burroughs Master Control Program) for B5000

1962

• Atlas Supervisor (Manchester University) (Atlas computer commissioned)

• BBN Time-Sharing System

• GCOS (GE's General Comprehensive Operating System, originally GECOS, General Electric Comprehensive Operating Supervisor)

1963

• ADMIRAL

• AN/FSQ-32, another early time-sharing system begun

• CTSS becomes operational (MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System for the IBM 7094)

• JOSS, an interactive time-shared system that did not distinguish between operating system and language

• Titan Supervisor, early time-sharing system begun

1964

• Berkeley Timesharing System (for Scientific Data Systems' SDS 940)

• Chippewa Operating System (for CDC 6600 supercomputer)

• Dartmouth Time-Sharing System (Dartmouth College's DTSS for GE computers)

• EXEC 8 (UNIVAC)

• KDF9 Timesharing Director (English Electric) – an early, fully hardware secured, fully pre-emptive process switching, multi-programming operating system for KDF9 (originally announced in 1960)

• OS/360 (IBM's primary OS for its S/360 series) (announced)

• PDP-6 Monitor (DEC) descendant renamed TOPS-10 in 1970

• SCOPE (CDC 3000 series)

• TOPS-1

1965

• BOS/360 (IBM's Basic Operating System)

• DECsys

• TOS/360 (IBM's Tape Operating System)

• Livermore Time Sharing System (LTSS)

• Multics (MIT, GE, Bell Labs for the GE-645) (announced)

• Pick operating system

• SIPROS 66 (Simultaneous Processing Operating System)

• THE multiprogramming system (Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven) development

• TSOS (later VMOS) (RCA)

1966

• Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC)

• DOS/360 (IBM's Disk Operating System)

• GEORGE 1 & 2 for ICT 1900 series

• Mod 1

• Mod 2

• Mod 8

• MS/8 (Richard F. Lary's DEC PDP-8 system)

• MSOS (Mass Storage Operating System)

• OS/360 (IBM's primary OS for its S/360 series) PCP and MFT (shipped)

• RAX

• Remote Users of Shared Hardware (RUSH), a time-sharing system developed by Allen-Babcock for the IBM 360/50

• SODA for Elwro's Odra 1204

• Universal Time-Sharing System (XDS Sigma series)

1967

• CP-40, predecessor to CP-67 on modified IBM System/360 Model 40

• CP-67 (IBM, also known as CP/CMS)

• Conversational Programming System (CPS), an IBM time-sharing system under OS/360

• Michigan Terminal System (MTS) (time-sharing system for the IBM S/360-67 and successors)

• ITS (MIT's Incompatible Timesharing System for the DEC PDP-6 and PDP-10)

• OS/360 MVT

• ORVYL (Stanford University's time-sharing system for the IBM S/360-67)

• TSS/360 (IBM's Time-sharing System for the S/360-67, never officially released, canceled in 1969 and again in 1971)

• WAITS (SAIL, Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, time-sharing system for DEC PDP-6 and PDP-10, later TOPS-10)

1968

• Airline Control Program (ACP) (IBM)

• B1 (NCR Century series)

• CALL/360, an IBM time-sharing system for System/360

• HP Real-Time Executive (HP RTE) – Hewlett-Packard

• HP Time-Shared BASIC (HP TSB) – Hewlett-Packard (time-sharing system for the HP 2000)

• THE multiprogramming system (Eindhoven University of Technology) publication

• TSS/8 (DEC for the PDP-8)

• VP/CSS

1969

• B2 (NCR Century series)

• B3 (NCR Century series)

• GEORGE 3 For ICL 1900 series

• MINIMOP

• Multics (MIT, GE, Bell Labs for the GE-645 and later the Honeywell 6180) (opened for paying customers in October)

• RC 4000 Multiprogramming System (RC)

• TENEX (Bolt, Beranek and Newman for DEC systems, later TOPS-20)

• Unix

• Xerox Operating System

1970s

1970

• DOS-11 (PDP-11)

1971

• EMAS

• Kronos

• RSTS-11 2A-19 (First released version; PDP-11)

• RSX-15

• OS/8

1972

• B4 (NCR Century series)

• COS-300

• Data General RDOS

• Edos

• MUSIC/SP

• OS/4

• OS 1100

• OS/2000 (Honeywell 2000-series)

• Operating System/Virtual Storage 1 (OS/VS1)

• Operating System/Virtual Storage 2 R1 (OS/VS2 SVS)

• PRIMOS (written in FORTRAN IV, that didn't have pointers, while later versions, around version 18, written in a version of PL/I, called PL/P)

• Virtual Machine/Basic System Extensions Program Product (BSEPP or VM/SE)

• Virtual Machine/System Extensions Program Product (SEPP or VM/BSE)

• Virtual Machine Facility/370 (VM/370), sometimes known as VM/CMS

1973

• Эльбрус-1 (Elbrus-1) – Soviet computer – created using high-level language uЭль-76 (AL-76/ALGOL 68)

• Alto OS

• CP-V (Control Program V)

• RSX-11D

• RT-11

• VME – implementation language S3 (ALGOL 68)

1974

• ACOS-2 (NEC)

• ACOS-4

• ACOS-6

• CP/M

• DOS-11 V09-20C (Last stable release, June 1974)

• Hydra – capability-based, multiprocessing OS kernel

• MONECS

• Multi-Programming Executive (MPE) – Hewlett-Packard

• Operating System/Virtual Storage 2 R2 (MVS)

• OS/7

• OS/16

• OS/32

• Sintran III

1975

• BS2000 V2.0 (First released version)

• COS-350

• ISIS

• NOS (Control Data Corporation)

• OS/3 (Univac)

• VS/9 (formerly RCA's TSOS, later named VMOS)

• Version 6 Unix

• XVM/DOS

• XVM/RSX

1976

• Apple I

• Cambridge CAP computer – all operating system procedures written in ALGOL 68C, with some closely associated protected procedures in BCPL

• Cray Operating System

• DX10

• FLEX

• TOPS-20

• TX990/TXDS

• Tandem Nonstop OS v1

• Thoth

1977

• 1BSD

• AMOS

• Apple II

• KERNAL

• OASIS operating system

• OS68

• OS4000

• RMX-80

• System 88 (Exec)

• System Support Program (IBM System/34 and System/36)

• TRSDOS

• Virtual Memory System (VMS) V1.0 (Initial commercial release, October 25)

• VRX (Virtual Resource eXecutive)

• VS Virtual Memory Operating System

1978

• 2BSD

• Apple DOS

• Control Program Facility (IBM System/38)

• Cray Time Sharing System (CTSS)

• DPCX (IBM)

• DPPX (IBM)

• HDOS

• KSOS – secure OS design from Ford Aerospace

• KVM/370 – security retro-fit of IBM VM/370

• Lisp machine (CADR)

• MVS/System Extensions (MVS/SE)

• OS4 (Naked Mini 4)

• PTDOS

• TRIPOS

• UCSD p-System (First released version)

• Z80-RIO

1979

• Atari DOS

• 3BSD

• CP-6

• Idris

• MP/M

• MVS/System Extensions R2 (MVS/SE2)

• NLTSS

• POS

• Sinclair BASIC

• Transaction Processing Facility (TPF) (IBM)

• UCLA Secure UNIX – an early secure UNIX OS based on security kernel

• UNIX/32V

• DOS/VSE

• Version 7 Unix

1980s

1980

• 86-DOS

• AOS/VS (Data General)

• Apple III

• Apple SOS

• Business Operating System

• CTOS

• DOSPLUS (TRS-80)

• MVS/System Product (MVS/SP) V1

• NewDos/80

• OS-9

• RMX-86

• RS-DOS

• SOS

• Virtual Machine/System Product (VM/SP)

• Xenix

1981

• Acorn MOS

• Aegis SR1 (First Apollo/DOMAIN systems shipped on March 27)

• CP/M-86

• DRX (Distributed Resource Executive)

• iMAX – OS for Intel's iAPX 432 capability machine

• MCS (Multi-user Control System)

• MS-DOS

• PC DOS

• Pilot (Xerox Star operating system)

• UNOS

• UTS

• V

• VERSAdos

• VRTX

• VSOS (Virtual Storage Operating System)

• Xinu first release

1982

• Commodore DOS

• LDOS (By Logical Systems, Inc. – for the Radio Shack TRS-80 Models I, II & III)

• PCOS (Olivetti M20)

• pSOS

• QNX

• Stratus VOS

• Sun UNIX (later SunOS) 0.7

• Ultrix

• Unix System III

• VAXELN

1983

• Apple III Plus

• Coherent

• DNIX

• EOS

• GNU (project start)

• Lisa Office System 7/7

• LOCUS – UNIX compatible, high reliability, distributed OS

• MVS/System Product V2 (MVS/Extended Architecture, MVS/XA)

• Novell NetWare (S-Net)

• PERPOS

• ProDOS

• RTU (Real-Time Unix)

• STOP – TCSEC A1-class, secure OS for SCOMP hardware

• SunOS 1.0

• VSE/System Package (VSE/SP) Version 1

1984

• AMSDOS

• CTIX (Unix variant)

• DYNIX

• Mac OS (System 1.0)

• MSX-DOS

• NOS/VE

• PANOS

• PC/IX

• ROS

• Sinclair QDOS

• SINIX

• UNICOS

• Venix 2.0

• Virtual Machine/Extended Architecture Migration Assistance (VM/XA MA)

1985

• AmigaOS

• Atari TOS

• DESQview

• DG/UX

• DOS Plus

• Graphics Environment Manager

• Harmony

• IBM TopView

• Mac OS (System 2)

• MIPS RISC/os

• Oberon – written in Oberon

• SunOS 2.0

• Version 8 Unix

• Virtual Machine/Extended Architecture System Facility (VM/XA SF)

• Windows 1.0 (First major released of Microsoft Windows)

• Windows 1.01

• Xenix 2.0

1986

• AIX 1.0

• Cronus distributed OS

• FlexOS

• GEMSOS – TCSEC A1-class, secure kernel for BLACKER VPN & GTNP

• GEOS

• Genera 7.0

• HP-UX

• Mac OS (System 3)

• SunOS 3.0

• TR-DOS

• TRIX

• Version 9 Unix

1987

• Arthur (much improved version came in 1989 under the name RISC OS)

• BS2000 V9.0

• IRIX (3.0 is first SGI version)

• Mac OS (System 4)

• Mac OS (System 5)

• MDOS

• MINIX 1.0

• OS/2 (1.0)

• PC-MOS/386

• Topaz – semi-distributed OS for DEC Firefly workstation written in Modula-2+ and garbage collected

• VxWorks

• Windows 2.0

1988

• A/UX (Apple Computer)

• AOS/VS II (Data General)

• CP/M rebranded as DR-DOS

• Flex machine – tagged, capability machine with OS and other software written in ALGOL 68RS

• GS/OS

• HeliOS 1.0

• KeyKOS – capability-based microkernel for IBM mainframes with automated persistence of app data

• LynxOS

• Mac OS (System 6)

• MVS/System Product V3 (MVS/Enterprise Systems Architecture, MVS/ESA)

• OS/2 (1.1)

• OS/400

• RISC iX

• SpartaDOS X

• SunOS 4.0

• TOPS-10 7.04 (Last stable release, July 1988)

• Virtual Machine/Extended Architecture System Product (VM/XA SP)

• VAX VMM – TCSEC A1-class, VMM for VAX computers (limited use before cancellation)

• Windows 2.1

1989

• Army Secure Operating System (ASOS) – TCSEC A1-class secure, real-time OS for Ada applications

• EPOC (EPOC16)

• IRIX 3.2

• Mac OS (System 6.0.4)

• MINIX 1.4

• Novell NetWare 3

• NeXTSTEP (1.0)

• OS/2 (1.2)

• RISC OS (First release was to be called Arthur 2, but was renamed to RISC OS 2, and was first sold as RISC OS 2.00 in April 1989)

• SCO UNIX (Release 3)

• TSX-32

• Version 10 Unix

• VMS V5.2

• Xenix 2.3.4 (Last stable release)

1990s

1990

• AIX 3.0

• AmigaOS 2.0

• BeOS (v1)

• DOS/V

• DR-DOS 5

• Genera 8.0

• HP-UX 7.0

• IRIX 3.3

• iS-DOS

• LOCK – TCSEC A1-class secure system with kernel and hardware support for type enforcement

• Mac OS (System 6.0.5)

• MINIX 1.5

• MVS/ESA SP Version 4

• Novell NetWare 3

• NeXTSTEP 2.0

• OS/2 1.3

• OSF/1

• RTEMS

• PC/GEOS

• Windows 3.0

• Virtual Machine/Enterprise Systems Architecture (VM/XA ESA)

• VSE/Enterprise Systems Architecture (VSE/ESA) Version 1

1991

• Amoeba – microkernel-based, POSIX-compliant, distributed OS

• GNO/ME

• Linux 0.01-0.1

• Mac OS (System 7)

• MINIX 1.5

• PenPoint OS

• RISC OS 3

• SUNMOS

• Trusted Xenix – rewritten & security enhanced Xenix evaluated at TCSEC B2-class

1992

• 386BSD 0.1

• Amiga Unix 2.01 (Latest stable release)

• AmigaOS 3.0

• ANDOS (DOS-like operating system for the Electronika BK series computers)

• BSD/386, by BSDi and later known as BSD/OS.

• LGX

• MPE/iX 4.0

• Mac OS 7.2

• MagiC (as Mag!X or MagiX)

• OpenVMS V1.0 (First OpenVMS AXP (Alpha) specific version, November 1992)

• OS/2 2.0 (First i386 32-bit based version)

• Plan 9 First Edition (First public release was made available to universities)

• RSTS/E 10.1 (Last stable release, September 1992)

• SLS

• Solaris 2.0 (Successor to SunOS 4.x; based on SVR4 instead of BSD)

• Windows 3.1

1993

• IBM 4690 Operating System

• FreeBSD

• NetBSD

• Novell NetWare 4

• Newton OS

• Nucleus RTOS

• Open Genera 1.0

• OS 2200 (Unisys)

• OS/2 2.1

• PTS-DOS

• Slackware 1.0

• Slackware 1.1

• Spring

• Windows Cairo

• Windows Chicago

• Windows NT 3.1 (First Windows NT kernel public release)

1994

• AIX 4.0, 4.1

• FreeDOS 2.0

• IBM MVS/ESA SP Version 5

• Linux 1.0.0

• Mac OS 7.5

• Magic Cap

• NetBSD 1.0 (First multi-platform release, October 1994)

• OS/2 Warp 3.0

• Red Hat

• RISC OS 3.5

• Slackware 1.2

• Slackware 2.0

• Slackware 2.1

• SPIN – extensible OS written in Modula-3

• Windows NT 3.5

1995

• BeOS DR1

• Digital UNIX (aka Tru64 UNIX)

• FreeBSD 2.1

• IRIX 5.3

• Linux 1.2.0

• Mac OS 7.5.1

• Mac OS 7.5.2

• NetBSD 1.1

• Novell NetWare 4.1

• OpenBSD

• OpenServer 5.0.2

• OS/390

• Plan 9 Second Edition (Commercial second release version was made available to the general public.)

• PlayStation OS

• Red Hat Linux 1.x

• Red Hat Linux 2.x

• Slackware 2.2

• Slackware 2.3

• Slackware 3.0

• SMSQ/E

• Ultrix 4.5 (Last major release)

• Windows 95

• Windows NT 3.51

2000s

2010s

2020s

See also

• Comparison of operating systems

• List of operating systems

• Comparison of real-time operating systems

• Timeline of DOS operating systems

• Timeline of Linux distributions (Diagram 1992–2010)

References

External links

• A brief history of operating systems 1946-2010s

• Bitsavers 1950s-1980s minicomputers and mainframes software and manuals captured, salvaged, and archived

• Operating Systems: Timeline and Family Tree 1951-2026 (1400 OSs)

UNIX

• UNIX History 1969-2025 and descendants

Microsoft

• Concise Microsoft O.S. Timeline 1981–2020

• Microsoft operating system time-line 1983-2007