Software Timeline

|  | Information Research Services | Updated: 05 March 1998

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1961: DECUS, the DIGITAL Computer Users Society, meets for the first time at Hanscom Field in Bedford, Massachusetts.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | September 1962: The PDP-1 operating system, the world's first timesharing system, is written by engineers at MIT and BBN for the PDP-1.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1964: Tops 10 is developed as the major user software interface for Digital's 36-bit machines.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1968: EDUsystems are introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1969: FOCAL version 1.0 is issued.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1970: MUMPS software for the PDP-15 is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1971: RSTS-11, a timesharing operating system for the PDP-11, is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | May 1973: RSX-11D, a real-time operating system for online data acquisition, monitoring and control on the PDP-11, is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | July 1973: RT-11, a real-time operating system for monitoring and control, is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | September 1973: DIGITAL develops DEC Data Communications Message Protocol (DDCMP) as a standard for its future computer-to-computer communications.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1974: RSX-11M, a real-time operating system for online control, is introduced for use on the PDP-11.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | January 1976: TOPS-20, a new virtual memory operating system, is introduced for use with the DECSYSTEM-20.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | February 1978: V1.0 of the VMS operating system ships.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | February 1980: Introduction of DECnet Phase III -- the most advanced networking in the computer industry.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | April 1980: VMS version 2.0 is released.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | October 1981: VAX information architecture is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | April 1982: VMS V3 ships.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | May 1982: ALL-IN-1, a new concept in integrated office software is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | October 1983: DECnet Phase IV is announced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | December 1983: DECtalk, a text-to-speech system that allows computers to talk, is announced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | April 1984: DIGITAL announces the Rdb relational database management system.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | June 1984: DIGITAL introduces ULTRIX-32, the first native UNIX from DIGITAL for the VAX family of systems.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | September 1984: VMS V4 ships.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | January 1985: DIGITAL introduces VAX ACMS (Application, Control and Management System).
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 1985: VMS V4.4 ships.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | January 1988: DIGITAL extends its Network Applications Support (NAS) facilities to integrate MS-DOS, OS/2 and UNIX systems into the open DECnet/OSI network environment.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | April 1988: VMS V5 is released.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | July 1988: DECtp is introduced.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | January 1989: DIGITAL announces DECwindows in VMS V5.2. The new version of the famous operating system is part of the broadest set of desktop solutions announced by DIGITAL to date.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | October 1990: DIGITAL announces its commitment to open standards for VMS.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | October 1990: VMS V5.4 ships.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | June 1991: DIGITAL introduces DECnet Phase V, which supports OSI standards and networks of essentially unlimited size.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | September 1991: The industry's first implementation of an object request broker is shipped under the name Application Control Architecture (ACA) services.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | November 1991: DIGITAL releases VMS V5.5.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | November 1991: DIGITAL and Microsoft announce an alliance allowing Microsoft Windows to retrieve and exchange data with local area network servers running DIGITAL PATHWORKS software.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | November 1992: DIGITAL releases OpenVMS/AXP V1.0 as part of its Alpha family of products.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | March 1993: DIGITAL ships OSF/1 UNIX for Alpha Systems.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | June 1993: DIGITAL ships OpenVMS/VAX V6.0.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | September 1993: DIGITAL and Microsoft ship the Windows NT operating system for Alpha systems.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | April - May 1994: DIGITAL ships OpenVMS/VAX V6.1 and OpenVMS/Alpha V6.1.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | August 1994: OSF/1 V 3.0 ships.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | March 1995: DIGITAL ships the industry's first commercial high-performance Fortran compiler in DEC Fortran 90.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | May 1995: DIGITAL announces the Affinity Program for OpenVMS. The Program helps customers implement the complementary strengths of OpenVMS and Windows NT.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | May - June 1995: DIGITAL releases OpenVMS/VAX V6.2 and OpenVMS/Alpha V6.2.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | November 1995: DIGITAL introduces FX!32.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | December 1995: OpenVMS/VAX V7.0 and OpenVMS/Alpha V7.0 are released.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | March 1996: DIGITAL announces a new release of its industry-leading 64-bit operating system, DIGITAL UNIX Version 4.0.
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  | December 1996: OpenVMS/VAX V7.1 and OpenVMS/Alpha V7.1 are released.