Highlights of FreeDOS history

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of FreeDOS, I wanted to share a few highlights of FreeDOS history. You can find a more complete timeline of FreeDOS key events, including the dates of each FreeDOS release, and links to our news coverage - on the FreeDOS History page.

1994

• First announcement of the FreeDOS Project (then "PD-DOS"). (29 June 1994) ~ comp.os.msdos.apps
• FreeDOS changes its name from "PD-DOS" to "Free-DOS." (16 July 1994) ~ comp.os.msdos.apps
• First "Alpha" release: FreeDOS officially releases the Free-DOS Alpha 1 distribution. (16 September 1994)
• First article about FreeDOS ~ University of Wisconsin-River Falls: UWRF Student Voice (December 1994)

1996

• First book about FreeDOS: The FreeDOS Kernel by Pat Villani. (6 January 1996) ~ R+D Books
• FreeDOS drops the hyphen, changes its name from "Free-DOS" to "FreeDOS."

1997

• First article about FreeDOS in popular press ~ DOS World Magazine (March 1997)

1998

• First "Beta" release: FreeDOS officially releases the FreeDOS Beta 1 "Orlando" distribution. (25 March 1998)

2000

• First third-party redistribution: Italian magazine DEV distributes FreeDOS Beta 4 (February 2000

2001

• First conference talk about FreeDOS (Jim Hall) ~ SSGRR-2001 (August 2001)

2002

• First third-party book about FreeDOS: The Universal Command Guide by Guy Lotgering ~ Wiley
• First major PC install: Dell ships FreeDOS install CDs with n-series computers (August 2002)

2004

• Major milestone: FreeDOS turns 10 years old (29 June 2004)

2006

• First "1.x" release: FreeDOS officially releases the FreeDOS 1.0 distribution. (3 September 2006)

2012

• FreeDOS officially releases the FreeDOS 1.1 distribution. (2 January 2012)

2014

• Major milestone: FreeDOS turns 20 years old (29 June 2014)

2016

• FreeDOS officially releases the FreeDOS 1.2 RC1 distribution. (31 October 2016)

2019

• Major milestone: FreeDOS turns 25 years old (29 Jun 2014)