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TopView was a text-mode MS-DOS multitasker written by IBM and released
in 1984 (or 1985 according to certain reports).
It ran in real mode on any x86 processor
and could run well-behaved MS-DOS programs in windows.
It did not make use of any later introduced
virtualization features in the Intel 80386 processors.
TopView first introduced PIF files, or Program Information
Files, which defined how a given MS-DOS program should
be run in a multi-tasking environment, notably to avoid
giving it unnecessary resources which could remain
available to other programs.
TopView's PIF files have been inherited by Microsoft Windows
and allegedly by DESQview.
IBM promised to give TopView a user-friend GUI, but never did.
TopView required MS-DOS 2.x and did not run with 3.0 and later releases anymore.
See also
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