New Technology Software

Operating Systems
Linux : The choice of the GNU generation
BSD Unix : An operating system with a real history
MS Windows : An operating system used on a lot of PCs

Linux distributions
All Linux distributions start with the Linux core and add many open source applications to the mix which ends up as a few CD-ROMs (or a large download).
Some of the current well known distributions are:
Debian GNU/Linux : The Debian Project is an association of individuals who have made common cause to create a free operating system. Debian uses the Linux kernel (the core of an operating system), but most of the basic OS tools come from the GNU project; hence the name GNU/Linux.
Red Hat Linux : A commercial Linux distribution based in Raleigh, USA. Currently it is splitting into Red Hat Enterprise Linux and the Fedora project. It has helped finance a lot of well known Linux developers and has purchased companies such as cygwin.
Mandrake : A commercial Linux distribution based in France.
SuSE : A commercial Linux distribution based in Germany. SuSE has recently been purchased by Novell.
Other distributions that have existed include:
Yggdrasil : The producers of the very first CD-ROM based linux distribution "Plug & play Linux" which Adam J. Richter pruduced in 1993. An archive of this exists.
SLS (Softlanding Linux System) : One of the first linux distributions... how many floppy disks?? Check with the archive.
Slackware : Another of the early linux distributions, again on floppy disks... Link to archive
You can find many of these historic linux distributions still on the internet.
ntsoft was there at the start... selling Yggdrasil on CD-ROM and the InfoMagic Linux Developer's Resource Cd-ROM sets.


History of BSD
A good history of BSD can be found on the oreilly site . The lawsuit between AT&T and BSDI caused so much noise that developers started working with Linux... (does anyone else remember the Net2 tape from 1994?)
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is an advanced operating system for x86 compatible, DEC Alpha, IA-64, PC-98 and UltraSPARC® architectures.
NetBSD
NetBSD is a free, secure, and highly portable UNIX-like operating system available for many platforms, from 64-bit AlphaServers and desktop systems to handheld and embedded devices. Its clean design and advanced features make it excellent in both production and research environments, and it is user-supported with complete source.
OpenBSD
The OpenBSD project produces a FREE, multi-platform 4.4BSD-based UNIX-like operating system. OpenBSD emphasizes portability, standardization, correctness, proactive security and integrated cryptography.


History of Microsoft
There are many histories of microsoft.. including microsoft's own museum . Microsoft's success is the success story of American Corporate law. Bill Gates studied law at Harvard until he dropped out to start up microsoft. A link to recent legal notes.
BASIC
The first major product from microsoft was a BASIC interpreter for some newly emerged PCs in 1988.
DOS
Disk Operating System.
Windows 9x
32 Bit User interface running on top of 16bit DOS... Windows 95, Windows 98 and then Windows ME.
Windows NT
32 bit operating system WNT (one on from VMS ?) by Dave Cuttler (of the Dec VMS team)..
Windows NT 3.1, NT 3.5, NT 4.0, 2000 and then 2003...
Office
Well how else can you see BASIC alive and kicking... again MS Office was a marketing development. Combining a word processor, spread sheet and some other applications for a price just over the price of one application removed a number of competitors from the market.
But when open office is free, will Microsoft still be able to sell it's office pack??