Nodus

Nodus, the Nodus Operating Environment, or nOE, is an open-source proprietary graphical operating system developed by Nexus Technologies that caters towards experienced programmers and scientific institutions. Its first version was released on August 29, 1986 as a graphical shell for the Nexus Node, and subsequent versions were initially made for the descending computer lines, such as Nodus 2 for the Archimedes and Achilles (1990), Nodus 3 for the Cleisthenes and Pheidon (1994), and Nodus 4 for the Odyssey and Telegony (2000).
Starting in 2001, Nodus became open-source and the Nodus line of computers were deprecated, with the operating system being solely made for PCs.
== History ==
=== Early versions ===
Nodus has its roots with Rober Peer's extensive report on pathway analogy in 1984, an alternative mode of visualizing graphical operating systems from the desktop and room analogies that were dominant in the 1980s. It was first unveiled in late 1985 at the same time the Nexus Node was announced to be using the ARM2 microprocessor rather than the now-cancelled Zilog Z800. Nodus 1.0 was released to modest success in November 15, 1986, intending to cater towards scientific institutions in Western Europe and North America. 
A change in market strategy in late 1987 led to the Node C and Nodus 1.1 being released to a wider market, amassing a small consumer base in the growingly saturated computer market. Despite negative reviews about the pathway analogy's confusing layout, in 1990, Nodus 2 was released in conjunction with the Nexus Archimedes (for higher-end professional use) and the Nexus Achilles (for consumer use), still using the pathway analogy. It added many features such as Internet support, office applications, paint and a videomaking application, a music player, and an enhanced command line. Additionally, from Nodus 1.1 onward, compatibility with computers such as the Amiga, PCjr, Tandy, and others in the PC ecosystem was included, which caused competition with AmigaOS and Windows, the two major operating systems within the ecosystem.
=== Switch to desktop ===
In 1992, the R&D4 team, the team behind the consumer releases of Nodus, which had strongly advocated for a switch to the desktop analogy, won out within Nexus, abandoning Peer's design for Nodus 3, which had recently begun development. While Nodus 1 and 2 were graphical shells running on NC-DOS, Nodus 3 was developed to be an operating system of its own, allowing more extensive usage of the ARM600 processor than a graphical shell in protected mode. Additionally, it boasted improvements to its' DOS Extender, as an effor to detract consumers from OS/2. Released in 1994, it sold more copies than Windows 3.1 did in the first three months (5 million vs 3 million), and threatened to upend Windows' explosive popularity, before Windows 95 was released the following year, which itself had an extremely popular debut. By 1996, the market had settled into a duopoly between Windows and Nodus, with OS/2, Nodus 3's initial target competitior, being blown out of the war by both products. In 1995, Nodus 3 SE was released to readjust Nodus' focus against Windows 95, adding layout changes to make it more similar to Windows, such as a built-in clock to its taskbar, plug-and-play functionality, and 32-bit compatibility.
In 1998, Nodus 4 was released to compete with Windows 98, a rushed release that ended up being extremely incomplete compared to what it was marketed as, ending up with Nexus losing its footing and Microsoft winning the competition within the PC environment. Nodus 4 SE, a much more polished released, regained some core consumer base thanks to the failure of Windows ME, but with Windows XP's release in 2001, any hope of regaining their lost footing was gone.
=== Switch to Open-source ===
In early 2001, Nexus' hardware division was largely culled, and in late 2001, Nodus 5 was released to only the PC environment. It was made open-source, a decision that changed Nodus' core demographic back to the dedicated programmers, although a more basic version was still being sold to universities and other scholarly institutions. Outside of Western Europe and North America, Nodus still sold well, as most foreign branches opted not to sell Nodus 4 until the Second Edition released. Nodus 6 was released in 2007, with some minor turncoat rates from Windows users fleeing the abysmal launch of Vista, though Nodus 7 and 8 were less successful as Windows 7 crushed any sizable competition outside of macOS X. In 2016, Nodus 9 was released, which gained increasing attraction as Windows 10 and later Windows 11 degraded in quality. In 2023, Nexus publicly announced the development of Nodus 10, and is currently set to launch on December 25, 2024.
Category:Fictional OS