This article was published on August 11, 2009

‘Prehistoric’ Microsoft operating system on eBay for $7500


‘Prehistoric’ Microsoft operating system on eBay for $7500

Pre-Microsoft MS DOSA copy of the operating system that came to be known as MS-DOS is currently up for auction on eBay. With a ‘Buy It Now’ price of $7500 though, it’s no spur-of-the-moment purchase.

In case you don’t know the story, back in the early 80s Microsoft bought the rights to an operating system called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products. After renaming it MS-DOS it went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and pave the way for Windows and Microsoft’s place in history.

Not many copies of the original 86-DOS are still around so the copy on eBay is a rare find. Coming on seven 8-inch floppy disks and complete with all the original documentation (ring binders full of the stuff), it’s a reminder how far computing has come. These days you can get a copy of Linux stuck to the front of a magazine, Apple sells OSX in tiny boxes and Windows’ packaging is not much larger.

The most amazing thing? The seller claims the OS still works – if you can find all the necessary ancient hardware.

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86OS disks

[via TechEBlog]

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