The future of programming – A.I. Wasserman and S. Gutz (1982)
Summary
This article is a detailed historical narrative about Norton Commander and Orthodox File Managers (OFMs), tracing NC from its 1.0 DOS release through 5.5, and outlining the people, features, packaging, and market dynamics that shaped its trajectory. It weaves in anecdotes about the development culture, competitive landscape (XTree, DN), corporate decisions at Symantec, and the DOS-to-Windows transition, while highlighting the architectural ideas that defined early OFMs.