Time Sharing Operating System
| Industry | Computer hardware and software |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 17, 1919 in United States |
| Fate | Sold computing division to Sperry Corporation in 1971 |
| Successor | Sperry Corporation (computing division) |
| Products | Time Sharing Operating System (TSOS), Spectra 70 mainframe computers |
Time Sharing Operating System (TSOS) was a proprietary operating system created by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) specifically for its Spectra 70 line of mainframe computers. Launched in 1968 for the Spectra 70/46—a modified version of the 70/45—TSOS later progressed into the Virtual Memory Operating System (VMOS) by 1970, which was compatible with subsequent RCA 3 and RCA 7 hardware.
In 1971, RCA withdrew from the computer industry and sold its computing division to Sperry Corporation. Sperry subsequently renamed TSOS as VS/9 and continued to promote it through the early 1980s. Concurrently, Siemens developed an improved TSOS derivative known as BS2000 during the mid-1970s. Presently, BS2000—now referred to as BS2000/OSD—is maintained by Fujitsu and remains operational mainly within European mainframe environments.
TSOS distinguished itself through its time-sharing functionality combined with a single interface supporting both time-sharing and batch processing. This integration offered a notable edge compared to IBM’s OS/360 and its successors including MVS, OS/390, and z/OS.