BIOS
- Date
- 1975 · confidence high
- Place
- Digital Research, Pacific Grove, California, United States
- Credited to
- Gary Kildall
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
While writing CP/M, Kildall isolated the machine-specific code into a separate module — the 'Basic Input/Output System' — so the rest of the operating system would run unchanged on computers with different hardware. The term and idea became standard with the IBM PC's proprietary BIOS in 1981.
What it led to
- Portability of operating systems across different hardware
- Reverse engineering of the IBM PC BIOS and the rise of compatible clones
- A standardized boot process for personal computers for more than three decades