Microsoft has announced that after open sourcing MS-DOStwo years back, the company is ready to open source some more projects from the days past. Released in 1983, Microsoft BASIC is now open for the public.

The Windows maker said that the GW-BASIC source code being published is from Feb 10, 1983 release. Since that was quite a few decades ago, Microsoft also offered some interesting historical perspective:

The week this source was created Men At Work topped the US and UK singles charts with “Down Under”, Dustin Hoffman starred in the #1 US box-office movie, “Tootsie”. In 1983, “Star Wars Episode VI – Return of the Jedi” was released, as was “War Games”! And, Emily Blunt, Kate Mara, Jonah Hill, Chris Hemsworth, and Henry Cavill, were born! Ronald Reagan was President of the USA, and Margaret Thatcher was the UK’s Prime Minister.

That same year,Bjarne Stroustrupwas in the middle of developing the first version ofthe C++ programming language,ARPANETstandardizedTCP/IP.BorlandannouncedTurbo Pascal, created byAnders Hejlsberg(who went on to join Microsoft, and createJ++,C#andTypeScript).

1983 was also the year AT&T releasedUNIX System V R1, andBSD4.2 was released, introducing thepseudoterminalfor the first time (the progenitor toWindows’ ConPTYwe introduced to Windows in 2018)

In 1983, Apple launched the 1MHz6502-poweredApple IIefor US$1,395 (> $3,500 in 2020). Apple also launched the first commercially available computer with a GUI – theApple Lisa. The Lisa contained a staggering 1MB RAM, and ran the awesomeMotorola 68000processor at an astounding 5MHz, but it cost $9,995 (> $25,000 in 2020 dollars), so all I could do was peer at it through the window of the one computer store in our town authorized to sell Apple’s products … and dream.

And, in 1983 Microsoft released MS-DOS 2.0 (source here), and GW-BASIC for theIBM PC XTand compatibles.

The GW-BASIC source code is being released for historical reference and educational purposes, which means Microsoft won'tbe accepting PRs that modify the source. It isn't in C; like the MS-DOS, it's 100% in assembly language. To have a look, head over to GitHub or the official blog post.

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