A detailed historical account of Norton Commander's development from 1984 to 1999, covering its origins as VDOS written by John Socha at Cornell University, the founding and growth of Peter Norton Computing, the competitive landscape with XTree, and version-by-version evolution from NC 1.0 through NC 5.51. Includes firsthand quotes from John Socha, Brad Kingsbury, and Jeff Johnson (XTree), technical details of early distributions, and the cultural impact Norton Commander had in the former USSR and Eastern Europe where it became synonymous with DOS itself.
Table of contents
Less is More: The Orthodox File Manager (OFM) ParadigmIntroductionThe TimelineThe initial version of Norton Commander: NC 1.0 (1986)The first upgrade: NC 2.0 (1988)The most popular version of Norton Commander ever created: NC 3.0 (1989)The first flip-flop: NC 4.0 (1992)The last attempt to revive the brand: NC 5.0 (1993)The Last of Mohicans: Norton Commander 5.5 (1998)Stillborn -- Norton Commander for OS/2Norton Commander for WindowsNorton Commander as classic AbandonwareNotes about John SochaWebliographyEtc555 Impressions