Norton Commander (NC) is a discontinued prototypical

orthodox file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...

(OFM), written by

John Socha John Socha-Leialoha (born 1958) is a software developer best known for creating Norton Commander, the first orthodox file manager. The original Norton Commander was written for DOS. Over the years, Socha's design for file management has been ...

and released by

Peter Norton Computing Peter Norton Computing, Inc., was a software company founded by Peter Norton. The first and best known software package it produced was Norton Utilities. Another successful software package was Norton Commander, especially the DOS version. In 1990 ...

(later acquired in 1990 by the Symantec corporation). NC provides a

text-based user interface In computing, text-based user interfaces (TUI) (alternately terminal user interfaces, to reflect a dependence upon the properties of computer terminals and not just text), is a retronym describing a type of user interface (UI) common as an ear ...

for managing files on top of

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. It was officially produced between 1986 and 1998. The last MS-DOS version of Norton Commander, 5.51, was released on July 1, 1998. A related product, ''Norton Desktop'', a graphical shell for MS-DOS and Windows, succeeded Norton Commander. It came in two variants, ''Norton Desktop for DOS'' and ''Norton Desktop for Windows''.

Background

John Socha started work on Norton Commander in 1984; at the time, he called it "Visual DOS" or "VDOS". Norton Commander was easy to use because it had a constant view of two file manipulation objects at once. After starting the program the user sees two panels with file lists. Each panel can be easily configured to show information about the other panel, a directory tree, or a number of other options. At the bottom of the screen, Norton Commander displays a list of commands that are extended on demand by the

CTRL In computing, a Control key is a modifier key which, when pressed in conjunction with another key, performs a special operation (for example, ); similar to the Shift key, the Control key rarely performs any function when pressed by itself. ...

and

ALT Alt or ALT may refer to: Abbreviations for words * Alt account, an alternative online identity also known as a sock puppet account * Alternate character, in online gaming * Alternate route, type of highway designation * Alternating group, mathema ...

keys. Thus, without heavy use of the mouse (although mouse functionality was integrated around version 3.0), the user is able to perform many file manipulation actions quickly and efficiently. Additionally, it also includes a built-in text file viewer (invoked with F3 key) and text file editor (invoked with F4 key). Norton Commander was very popular during the DOS era and it has been extensively cloned. For example, the IntelliJ IDE used to include a "Commander" plugin that performed file manipulation using the same shortcut keys as Norton Commander but the plugin is now obsolete.

Long filenames

Windows 95 Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...

included a new graphical shell called

Windows Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the file ...

and supported long filenames (LFN). Symantec released Norton Commander 5.51 to support long filenames using the standard Windows APIs. In order to preserve LFNs while working in

real mode Real mode, also called real address mode, is an operating mode of all x86-compatible CPUs. The mode gets its name from the fact that addresses in real mode always correspond to real locations in memory. Real mode is characterized by a 20-bit seg ...

, Norton Commander 5.51 required the use of a

Terminate and Stay Resident A terminate-and-stay-resident program (commonly TSR) is a computer program running under DOS that uses a system call to return control to DOS as though it has finished, but remains in computer memory so it can be reactivated later. This technique ...

(TSR) utility. Norton Commander did not have native support for LFNs in real mode and would truncate them.

End of life

According to former Peter Norton Group developer Mark Lawler, after Symantec had acquired Peter Norton Computing, Symantec had speculated Microsoft Windows would be a success, so the key PNC resources had been diverted, while new programmers for Windows platform were hired.

Enrique Salem Enrique Salem (born 1965) was the president and CEO of software company Symantec from 2009 until 2012, and was a member of the U.S. President's Management Advisory Board. Prior to being CEO of Symantec he was the COO of Symantec. Salem joined Bain ...

(who eventually became Symantec's CEO) led the development of a Windows shell replacement for Windows File Manager and Program Manager released as Norton Desktop for Windows.

Norton Commander for Windows

Norton Commander for Windows was a Windows 95 variant of the classical DOS file manager.

1.0

Version 1.0 was first released in 1996. It supported both Windows 95 and Windows NT. This version fully integrated with Windows features such as the Recycle Bin and Quick View. Quick View feature was supported via the included basic Quick View Plus. Version 1.02 added Windows 98 support.

2.0

Version 2.0 was released in 2000. It supports Windows 2000 and functions under Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Installer included Network Utilities, Norton Commander Scheduler, and the Norton Commander. Network Utilities allows for viewing devices and systems on network, connecting to remote systems, mapping network drives, network monitoring, and more. Norton Commander is little changed from previous versions, and includes file compression/de-compression of various formats, network utilities access, disk cleanup, files and folder compare, FTP connection management, and more. The last Windows version of Norton Commander was 2.01.

Norton Commander for OS/2

Version 1.0 was released in December 1992. It supports

OS/2 OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 ...

2.0 with HPFS or FAT file system. It does not include the command prompt found in other versions of Norton Commander. In June 1993, Symantec lowered the price of Norton Commander for OS/2 to $49, and soon ceased sales.

Reception

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable unit ...

'' in 1989 listed Norton Commander 2.0 for DOS as among the "Distinction" winners of the BYTE Awards, stating that "navigating through a crowded hard disk is a breeze".

Norton Commander-inspired software

There are several programs that follow the style of Norton Commander. Examples are: * ACE Archiver for DOS in the first versions had a NC-inspired interactive interface *

Altap Salamander Altap Salamander (formerly known as ''Servant Salamander'') is a freeware orthodox file manager for Microsoft Windows, originally inspired by Norton Commander. In contrast to several other file managers, it has a ''context aware'' user interface h ...

for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

*BeFAR for

BeOS BeOS is an operating system for personal computers first developed by Be Inc. in 1990. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was positioned as a multimedia platform that could be used by a substantial population of desktop users a ...

* Commander One for

macOS macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

Demos Commander Demos Commander (deco) is an orthodox file manager for Unix-like systems and a clone of Norton Commander. The project started by Sergey Vakulenko in 1989 while working at the DEMOS ISP (thus the name Demos Commander: ''deco'') and is considere ...

for Unix and Linux *

Directory Opus Directory Opus (or "DOpus" as its users tend to call it) is a File manager, file manager program, originally written for the Amiga computer system in the early to mid-1990s. Commercial development on the version for the Amiga ceased in 1997. Direct ...

for Amiga (1990) and Windows (2001) *DOS Command Center (DCC) DOS and Win95 versions *

DOS Navigator DOS Navigator (DN) is an orthodox file manager for DOS, OS/2, and Windows. Influence DOS Navigator is an influential early implementation of orthodox file manager (OFM). By implementing three additional types of virtual file systems (VFS): XTr ...

for

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

Double Commander Double Commander is a free and open-source multi-platform two-panel orthodox file manager that is inspired by the Microsoft Windows-only Total Commander. Features * Directories (all or only selected) can be compared and synchronized both ...

for Windows and Linux *

FAR Manager Far Manager (short for ''File and ARchive Manager'') is an orthodox file manager for Microsoft Windows and is a clone of Norton Commander. Far Manager uses the Win32 console and has a keyboard-oriented user interface (although limited mouse o ...

for Windows *

File Commander File Commander is a text mode orthodox file manager for Microsoft Windows, OS/2 and Linux operating systems created and maintained by Brian Havard. It is an enhanced clone of Norton Commander, originally developed for OS/2 but ported to Micros ...

for Linux,

and Windows *fman for Windows, Mac and Linux *Ghost Commander for Android systems *

GNOME Commander GNOME Commander is a 'two panel' graphical file manager for GNOME. It is built using the GTK+ toolkit and GVfs. Features * GNOME MIME types * Network support through File Transfer Protocol, FTP, SSH file transfer protocol, SFTP, SAMBA and WebD ...

for

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...

systems *HiFile for Windows, Mac and Linux *

Krusader Krusader is an advanced orthodox file manager for KDE and other desktops in the Unix world. It is similar to the console-based GNU Midnight Commander, GNOME Commander for the GNOME desktop environment, or Total Commander for Windows, all of w ...

for Unix-like systems *

Midnight Commander GNU Midnight Commander (also known as mc, the command used to start it, and as mouseless commander in older versions) is a free cross-platform orthodox file manager. It was started by Miguel de Icaza in 1994 as a clone of the then-popular Nor ...

for Unix-like systems including

and Windows * muCommander for

Java platform Java is a set of computer software and specifications developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems, which was later acquired by the Oracle Corporation, that provides a system for developing application software and deploying it in a cro ...

* Music on Console for Unix-like systems; actually a music player * PowerDesk by Avanquest, of which an evaluation version of Version 4 is included in Microsoft's Windows NT 4.0

Resource Kit Resource Kit is a term used by Microsoft for a set of software resources and documentation released for their software products, but which is not part of that product. Resource kits offer supplementary resources such as technical guidance, compatibi ...

s *Stereo Shell for DOS *The DOS Controller by Søren Kragh *

Total Commander __NOTOC__ Total Commander (formerly Windows Commander) is a shareware orthodox file manager for Windows, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile/Windows CE and Android, developed by Christian Ghisler. Originally coded using Delphi, latest Windows 64-b ...

for Windows *

Volkov Commander Volkov Commander (VC) is a file manager for DOS inspired by the Norton Commander. Volkov Commander is purely written in assembly language, and is thus very small (less than 100 KB) and fast. Volkov Commander was written by Vsevolod V. Volkov, a ...

for DOS *WinNC for

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...

* RAR archive manager used to have Norton Commander-like interface, the last version with that interactive file manager interface look-alike was DOS version 2.50 *Xfolders for

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

References in popular culture

* ''Norton Commander'' is a song released by the Montreal indie group,

Men I Trust Men I Trust is a Canadian indie band from Montreal, Quebec. Formed in 2014, the band consists of Emmanuelle Proulx (vocals, guitar), Jessy Caron (guitar, bass), and Dragos Chiriac (keyboard). The group have self-released all of their music and ha ...

. While the song contains no literal references to the Norton Commander file manager, it is speculated that the song's subject matter of comfort and familiarity relate to the familiarity and reliability of the software.

References

External links

The History of Development of Norton Commander
(Softpanorama)
21st Century Nostalgia
A Tribute to Norton Commander 5.0

A graphical review in the GUI Gallery {{Symantec Orthodox file managers DOS software OS/2 software Utilities for Windows

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

Gen Digital software Proprietary software Discontinued software 1986 software