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  • Eloshaelosha@chaos.social
    Dec 20, 2025, 11:08 AM

    I just read about MUSH (Microsoft User Shell) – which is the keyboard-based pre-pulldown menu system that existed in Multiplan, Word or XTree – and early drafts of Microsoft Interface Manager, an text UI precursor of Windows which resembled DOSShell from MS-DOS 4, on the website of @nina_kali_nina . I remembered there actually was a Visual Shell, vsh in Microsoft Xenix (their Unix OS). Sadly, browsing was not very intuitive … #softwarearcheology #unix #unixshells

    Microsoft Xenix 2.3.4 running in an emulation window, showing the obscure Visual Shell (vsh). It isn‘t a classical text mode prompt but rather works like the file manager product of command-driven early DOS applications lineup by Microsoft.
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  • Eloshaelosha@chaos.social
    Dec 20, 2025, 12:49 PM

    @charette @nina_kali_nina While they don‘t have this kind of command list, but the F-key interface invented by HP: Yes, early examples of file managers, from a time where many principles were tried out :) The tree-like structure and the orthodox (two lists) won. Here is a screenshot of the rare #XTree for Unix:

    A screenshot of the XTree file management program, but instead of the famous DOS version it‘s the rare Unix version. Showing the root filesystem of Xenix 2.3.4.
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  • Eloshaelosha@chaos.social
    Dec 20, 2025, 1:14 PM

    @charette @nina_kali_nina However DOSShell and Visual Shell were notable: Rather than being designed as stand-alone file managers you would launch, Microsoft designed them as simplified interfaces for the OS. Hence they prominently featured program launchers/switchers. Text-mode ancestors of Windows Explorer (incl. Start Menu) or Macintosh Finder (incl. Dock).

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  • Nina Kalininanina_kali_nina@tech.lgbt
    Dec 20, 2025, 1:17 PM

    @elosha @charette DosShell was released after Windows 2, making it "a gateway drug" for GUIs, maybe?

    🤔 Also, I'm constantly reminding myself that Microsoft Japan had offered completely different UIs in Japan. I should check out when they started offering a shell, I bet it was before the US release

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