Steel OS 1.0

Steel OS 1.0 is the first release of the Steel OS line of operating systems. It was released on 13 December 2022 to Scratch, under the build string "1.0.1.360" and under the codename "Revolution". It was the first release of Steel OS, and would be succeeded by Steel OS 1.2 in January 2023. It was the result of several months of planning, prototypes, and development, and Steel OS 1.0 takes the appearance of a mid-90's operating system that would try to compete with Microsoft Windows, similar to OS/2 and some Linux distributions, as well as NeXTStep. It would be discontinued in February 2023 in favor of Steel OS 1.2 and Steel OS 2.0, the latter of which would be released that month.

## Development (History)

The development of Steel OS 1.0 would start on 24 November 2022 at 5:00 PM, when SteelsOfLiquid compiled "Build 000", otherwise known as "Build Zero", of a project called "SteelFirm Codename Subversion", or "Steel OS 1.0". This project would become Steel OS 1.0, was developed from 24 November 2022 to 13 December 2022, and had a total of 319 builds (1.0.0.000 to 1.0.1.360: 318 pre-release builds, with Build 317 being the final pre-release build, and Build 360 being the final release as the 319th build).

### Builds 0-144

Steel OS 1.0 began development under the codename "Subversion" on 24 November 2022, with the first public preview build, Build 41, being released on 25 November 2022. Build 41 contained Memo, and an early, non-functional version of the main menu. It contains a "locked" background, however, by using debug commands, an "easter egg" can be found, allowing the user to use a background that would be available later in development.

Steel OS 1.0 Build 117 was the next preview release, being released on 27 November 2022. This build introduced the Clock and File Browser programs, with a more functional main menu, as well as the ability to shut down the system. Build 117 was a Beta 1 build, unlike Build 41, which was an alpha release. Another notable build, Build 144, is known to exist, but was never released. Build 144 was compiled on 30 November 2022 at 4:35 PM, and if it was released, it would be the first public preview build to contain Piano.

### Builds 145-193

Steel OS 1.0 Builds 145-192 are known to exist, but were never publicly released. The final preview build released under the SteelFirm badge name, Steel OS 1.0 Beta 1 Build 193, was released to beta testers on 2 December 2022. It contained the first public releases of Paint and Piano, and was the first known build where the developers accepted multitasking, which was accidentally created via a bug allowing multiple programs to run at once. However, this release contained a bug that would later be patched that allowed both Memo and Paint to be ran at the same time, which was known to cause issues.

### Builds 194-261

Steel OS 1.0 continued development under being badged as an individual project by SteelsOfLiquid and under a new codename: "Revolution". Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Builds 194-200 were not released to the public, but Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Build 201 was released. The only notable changes in Build 201 compared to Build 193, apart from the badging, were a new boot screen, a boot chime, a new wallpaper, and the wait cursor, which was used as standard until mid-way through the development of Steel OS 2.0. Notably, Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Build 201's boot chime was not used in the final release, likely due to how it sounded.

Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Build 227 would be the next preview release of Steel OS 1.0. In this build, SteelsOfLiquid added functionality to the "About this system" option in the main menu (which opened a window providing information about the OS), as well as the Setup program, which allowed users to change the appearance of the system, finally making the easter egg wallpaper in early Steel OS 1.0 builds a standard wallpaper. Apart from that, the only notable thing about this build was that it was released on 4 December 2022, the day after Build 201 (released on 3 December 2022), which was released the day after Build 193 (released 2 December 2022).

Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Build 261 was the final preview release of Beta 2, released on 7 December 2022. This build changed the startup sound to that used in Sigma OS, a cancelled OS project, which had a much better sound, which would be reused in later releases of Steel OS. This build introduces a watermark (for the first time since Steel OS 1.0 Beta 1 Build 193), as well as a new background (which is applied by default), and the Quanty Internet Browser, which did not do anything in Steel OS 1.0, 1.2, or 1.73. It should be noted that this is one of the final builds to contain a boot screen that does not fill the entire screen.

### Builds 262-317

Steel OS 1.0 Final Beta Builds 262-308 were not released to the public. Steel OS 1.0 Final Beta, otherwise known as Steel OS 1.0 Omega, was the stage of development that signified that the OS was nearly complete, and Steel OS 1.0 Omega Build 309, the final preview release, was released to the public on 13 December 2022. This build added Music Player (the final program to be added until the development of Steel OS 2.0), active effects to Setup's buttons, and main menu spacers, as well as a crash screen, which is a hidden easter egg that can only be triggered via debug controls.

Steel OS 1.0 Omega Builds 310-317 would not be released to the public. Despite Steel OS 1.0 having 319 builds (with each build being stepped up by one, as a result of Build 0), Steel OS 1.0 Omega Builds 318 and 319 do not exist. Furthermore, Steel OS 1.0 Build 318 would become Steel OS 1.0 Build 360 for the final release. The only additions with the RTM build were that two power off options were added (Restart and Force Stop Now, the latter of which would become "Terminate" in later releases), and some differences in the default background.

## Support Lifecycle

Steel OS 1.0 would be supported from December 2022 to February 2023, having one of the shortest lifespans of a Steel OS release, only to Steel OS 1.73, which was released on 17 March 2023 and discontinued on 8 April 2023, not to mention that the Japanese version of Steel OS 1.73 was released two days after Steel OS 1.73 and discontinued on the same day. Users of Steel OS 1.0 were told to upgrade to Steel OS 1.2 in order to continue getting support, as Steel OS 1.0 had a different UI layout which software developers did not choose to develop programs for this version as a result of the different UI layout.

Steel OS 1.0 is entirely unsupported as of 13 April 2023, with no programs supporting it, and no updates being officially developed by SteelsOfLiquid for Steel OS 1.0, with the main development of Steel OS being focused on Steel OS 2.3 and Steel OS 3, the latter of which is in development as of 13 April 2023.

## Legacy

Steel OS 1.0's code would be used as a base for Steel OS 2.0, which currently holds the record for the longest development process for a release of Steel OS. Steel OS 2.0, just like Steel OS 1.0, did not have a long support lifecycle - After the release of Steel OS 2.3, Steel OS 2.0 was not supported for much longer: Support for Steel OS 2.0 ends on 1 May 2023, despite Steel OS 2.3 getting monthly updates. Steel OS 2.3 would use Steel OS 2.0's code as a base, with Steel OS 2.3's code being the base for Steel OS 3, and so on. As Steel OS has been developed off of the same kernel base, this means that the latest release of Steel OS is built off of Steel OS 1.0.

Steel OS 1.0's visual theme can be enabled via debug commands in Steel OS 2.0 and Steel OS 2.3, and this was possible before it was removed during the development of Steel OS 3, which was done as a result of the new visual theme updates in Steel OS 3.

## References

1. ↑ "Steel OS 1.0" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/776324812/
2. ↑ "Steel OS 1.2" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/795110385/
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "C:\Users\oshol\OneDrive\Documents\Steel OS 1.0 Emulator (1996)\1.0 Builds" on SteelsOfLiquid's laptop, an MSI Prestige 14 Evo A11M-629.
4. ↑ "SteelFirm Steel OS 1.0 Build 041" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/767517263/
5. ↑ "SteelFirm Steel OS 1.0 Build 117" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/768092551/
6. ↑ "C:\Users\oshol\OneDrive\Documents\Steel OS 1.0 Emulator (1996)\1.0 Builds\Steel OS 1.0 Ver.144.sb3" - SteelsOfLiquid's laptop, known as "FateHexam" or "F4T3H3X4M", which is an MSI Prestige 14 Evo A11M-629.
7. ↑ "SteelFirm Codename "Subversion" Build 193" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/771277397/
8. ↑ "SteelsOfLiquid Steel OS Codename "Revolution" Build 201" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/771654903/
9. ↑ "Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Build 227" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/771872033/
10. ↑ "Steel OS 1.0 Beta 2 Build 261" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/773696828/
11. ↑ "Steel OS 1.0 Final Beta Build 309" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/776198998/
12. ↑ "Steel OS 1.73" on Scratch - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/821381974/