Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has finally granted permission to make the Apple II DOS source code available to the public. Two of the nation’s most coveted computer museums, the Computer History Museum and DigiBarn Computer Museum posted details of the source code to their Websites on Tuesday. The Cupertino-based company still owns copyrights to the code, and the Apple II DOS source code is available only for non-commercial use.
Apple II was the seed of the juggernaut we see today
The Apple II hit the markets in 1978 for $1298, and had a memory of just 4K. It was the first fully assembled personal computer with various modes of input, a monitor and the BASIC programming language. It also had a built-in floppy drive developed by Steve Wozniak in 1977. However, the Apple II didn’t have a disk drive, so it required a cassette tape to store and retrieve data.
The museums have made the original documents as well as the code public. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) (Apple Computer Inc. back then) needed a DOS to organize the programs. So, Steve Jobs signed a deal with Paul Laughton of Shepardson Microsystems to develop the code. In just three weeks, Paul developed a program that was the connecting link between a file management system and the modern operating system. Paul was paid $13,000 for the rush job. Paul Laughton originally wrote wrote DOS on punch card sheets.
Museums also release Apple Macprint source code
The computer museums also unveiled source code for Adobe Photoshop and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s Macprint and Quickdraw. The Apple II is undoubtedly one of the most valuable treasures of technology era. It made Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) as we know it today.
You can directly download the source code from the Computer History Museum’s website. The other documents are available at DigiBarn Computer Museum’s website.
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares were down 0.18% to $519.05 in pre-market trading.