The operating system was written in C and assembly languages, which made it highly portable and efficient. It came with various utilities such as a text editor, a C compiler, a linker and a debugger, and a windowing system known as X10.
Coherent was a fully multitasking operating system, which means it could run multiple tasks simultaneously without affecting the performance of other tasks. It also had a virtual memory management system that allowed users to run programs bigger than the available physical memory.
One of the key features of Coherent was its compatibility with the Unix operating system. It supported most of the Unix commands, file systems, and programming tools. This made it an attractive choice for developers who wanted to write Unix-compatible software on a personal computer.
The development of Coherent was influenced by the Unix operating system and the GNU project. The GNU project was started in 1983 by Richard Stallman with the goal of creating a free Unix-like operating system. Coherent was one of the first operating systems to incorporate some of the GNU tools such as the GCC compiler.
Mark Williams Company continued to develop new versions of Coherent until 1994 when it was acquired by the Swedish company, Interactive Systems Corporation. The development of Coherent was abandoned after the acquisition, and the last version of the operating system was released in 1995.
Coherent was a groundbreaking operating system in its time. It demonstrated that Unix-like operating systems could be packaged for personal computers and sold commercially. It helped to popularize the use of Unix-compatible software on personal computers.
Today, Coherent is no longer in use, but its legacy lives on. It inspired the development of other Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD. These operating systems have become popular choices for servers, embedded systems, and personal computers.
In conclusion, Coherent was an important operating system in the history of computing. It demonstrated that Unix-like operating systems could be packaged for personal computers and sold commercially. Its portability, multitasking, and compatibility with Unix tools made it an attractive choice for developers. Despite its eventual demise, Coherent paved the way for the development of other Unix-like operating systems that continue to be used and developed today.