First Microsoft Os

: It featured a line-oriented text editor called EDLIN and basic commands like DIR , COPY , and FORMAT that many users still recognize today. The Leap to Windows

Without BASIC, the Altair was just a box of switches and lights. You had to flip physical switches on the front panel to input machine code in binary. BASIC provided an interface—a software layer that allowed humans to talk to the machine using English-like commands ( PRINT , RUN , IF , THEN ). first microsoft os