<s>
The	O
Business	B-Application
Operating	I-Application
System	I-Application
,	O
or	O
BOS	O
,	O
was	O
initially	O
developed	O
as	O
an	O
early	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
operating	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
,	O
originally	O
produced	O
for	O
Intel	B-General_Concept
8080	I-General_Concept
and	O
Motorola	B-Device
6800	I-Device
computers	O
,	O
then	O
redeveloped	O
for	O
actual	O
businesses	O
and	O
business	O
models	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
technology	O
began	O
subsequently	O
for	O
Zilog	O
Z80-based	O
computers	O
,	O
and	O
then	O
later	O
for	O
most	O
microcomputers	B-Architecture
of	O
the	O
1980s	O
,	O
then	O
developed	O
into	O
a	O
premium	O
automated	O
software	O
solution	O
for	O
Investors	O
and	O
Asset	O
Managers	O
alike	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CAP	O
Ltd	O
,	O
a	O
British	O
company	O
and	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
world	O
's	O
largest	O
Information	B-General_Concept
Technology	I-General_Concept
consulting	O
firms	O
,	O
developed	O
BOS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CAP	O
designed	O
BOS	O
and	O
BOS	O
applications	O
for	O
platform-independence	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Sage	O
itself	O
was	O
initially	O
developed	O
using	O
UCSD	O
Pascal	B-Application
and	O
p-code	B-Language
,	O
so	O
it	O
fitted	O
well	O
with	O
the	O
basic	O
BOS	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
small	O
BOS	O
dealer/distributor	O
network	O
and	O
its	O
command-line	B-Application
interface	I-Application
structure	O
met	O
its	O
demise	O
when	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
became	O
prevalent	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
redevelopment	O
of	O
which	O
,	O
in	O
2013	O
,	O
was	O
integrated	O
with	O
a	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
,	O
GUI	B-Application
,	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
"	O
simple	O
to	O
use	O
"	O
solution	O
,	O
which	O
"	O
learned	O
"	O
from	O
its	O
user	O
's	O
input	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
niche	O
)	O
to	O
independent	B-Application
software	I-Application
vendors	I-Application
ISV	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Examples	O
of	O
MPSL	O
developed	O
software	O
include	O
BOS/Finder	O
(	O
database	O
)	O
,	O
BOS/Planner	O
(	O
spreadsheet	B-Application
)	O
,	O
BOS/Writer	O
(	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
)	O
and	O
BOS/AutoClerk	O
(	O
report	O
generation	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Companies	O
sold	O
various	O
BOS	O
accounting	B-Application
software	I-Application
suites	O
in	O
the	O
UK	O
and	O
United	O
States	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
adoption	O
of	O
business	O
microcomputers	B-Architecture
not	O
having	O
accounts	O
correctly	O
laid	O
out	O
was	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
biggest	O
complaints	O
by	O
tax	O
officials	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
interesting	O
feature	O
of	O
the	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
input	O
was	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
ESCape	O
key	O
for	O
line	O
entry	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
made	O
it	O
much	O
easier	O
to	O
delegate	O
otherwise	O
complex	O
operator	O
tasks	O
to	O
non-technical	O
office	O
and	O
shop	O
floor	O
staff	O
,	O
especially	O
given	O
the	O
intricacies	O
of	O
working	O
with	O
multiple	O
floppy	B-Device
disks	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
BOS	O
applications	O
were	O
initially	O
compiled	O
to	O
a	O
p-code	B-Language
and	O
interpreted	B-Application
as	O
they	O
ran	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
BOS	O
had	O
a	O
p-code	B-Language
interpreter	B-Application
so	O
efficient	O
that	O
programs	O
,	O
even	O
the	O
BOS/Writer	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
,	O
ran	O
sufficiently	O
fast	O
to	O
satisfy	O
users	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
technical	O
subsystem	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
programming	O
software	O
was	O
made	O
available	O
to	O
programmers	O
wanting	O
to	O
write	O
their	O
own	O
p-code	B-Language
microcobol	O
instruction	O
extensions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apart	O
from	O
a	O
2-kilobyte	O
(	O
Kb	O
)	O
server	O
(	O
computing	O
)	O
/host	O
kernel	B-Operating_System
,	O
BOS	O
is	O
written	O
in	O
BOS/MicroCobol	O
,	O
a	O
language	O
based	O
on	O
COBOL	B-Application
but	O
with	O
system-level	O
programming	O
constructs	O
added	O
and	O
elements	O
of	O
structured	O
programming	O
,	O
which	O
bore	O
a	O
vague	O
similarity	O
to	O
Pascal	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
recent	O
computing	O
,	O
programming	O
languages	O
such	O
as	O
Java	B-Language
have	O
re-introduced	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
p-code	B-Language
"	O
virtual	B-Architecture
machines	I-Architecture
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
BOS	O
system	O
evolved	O
,	O
the	O
need	O
for	O
programming	O
in	O
ASP.net	O
developed	O
for	O
quicker	O
accessibility	O
and	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
BOS	O
initially	O
required	O
48Kb	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
two	O
176	O
Kb	O
5.25	B-Device
"	I-Device
double-sided	O
floppies	B-Device
,	O
though	O
it	O
was	O
more	O
commonly	O
deployed	O
on	O
machines	O
equipped	O
with	O
64	O
kilobytes	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
a	O
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
computer	O
with	O
128	O
KB	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
a	O
10-megabyte	O
(	O
Mb	O
)	O
hard	B-Device
drive	I-Device
could	O
run	O
as	O
many	O
as	O
five	O
concurrent	B-License
users	I-License
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
the	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
XT	I-Device
came	O
out	O
in	O
1983	O
,	O
BOS	O
served	O
over	O
eight	O
concurrent	O
dumb	O
terminals	O
on	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Now	O
,	O
BOS	O
runs	O
on	O
the	O
same	O
required	O
RAM	B-Architecture
and	O
serves	O
up	O
to	O
800,000	O
concurrent	B-License
users	I-License
as	O
it	O
is	O
paired	O
with	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
1980s	O
,	O
a	O
minimal	O
hardware	O
BOS	O
setup	O
might	O
have	O
comprised	O
:	O
North	O
Star	O
Horizon	O
Z80	B-General_Concept
cpu	O
48Kbyte	O
ram	B-Architecture
&	O
2x	O
5.25	B-Device
"	I-Device
SA-400	O
single-density	O
double-sided	O
minifloppy	O
drive	O
(	O
each	O
side	O
used	O
35/40	O
tracks	O
to	O
give	O
176	O
Kb	O
formatted	O
,	O
ie	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Frequent	O
diskette	B-Device
swapping	O
was	O
required	O
during	O
a	O
program	O
run	O
,	O
a	O
good	O
programmer/operator	O
could	O
minimise	O
these	O
essential	O
changes	O
by	O
detailed	O
logical	O
planning	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Not	O
every	O
business	O
could	O
quickly	O
afford	O
the	O
newly	O
available	O
hard	B-Device
drives	I-Device
and	O
many	O
company	O
managers	O
were	O
just	O
reluctant	O
to	O
spend	O
more	O
and	O
more	O
upon	O
what	O
they	O
already	O
thought	O
was	O
expensive	O
enough	O
in	O
the	O
first	O
place	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
user-management	O
tools	O
in	O
the	O
80	O
's	O
,	O
and	O
application	B-Application
programming	I-Application
interfaces	I-Application
in	O
the	O
mid-80	O
'	O
s	O
,	O
BOS	O
was	O
considered	O
an	O
alternative	O
even	O
to	O
the	O
platform-specific	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
on	O
machines	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
PDP-11	B-Device
and	O
the	O
VAX	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Despite	O
,	O
or	O
because	O
of	O
its	O
command-line	B-Application
interface	I-Application
,	O
BOS	O
remains	O
popular	O
with	O
medium	O
to	O
large	O
organizations	O
in	O
the	O
UK	O
and	O
US	O
.	O
</s>
