Borealis

Borealis
Borealis is a super advanced, ultramodern quantum operating system created by Lumos Computer Systems of the fictional country of Petz Land (my country I created for a web series), and released in 2022.

Early history
Borealis began development from a DOS-like codebase as Project Aurora in 1872, designed to introduce an operating system for abacuses, for whatever reason. As expected, this failed because you cannot install an operating system on an abacus. So the team, comprised of Sir David Obiron, the founder of Obico, Dr. Edgar Schmidt, a German mechanical engineer, and Jebediah Lumos, the great great grandfather of Stephen Lumos, created a mechanical computer to run it. This computer was dubbed the Obico Mechanical Computing Device. This proved much more feasible and Project Aurora was born. However due to lack of funding the project was scrapped and put on hiatus.

First stages of development
About 118 years later, in 1990, development was restarted from an experimental quantum codebase built from scratch, custom made for the new experimental Lumos supercomputer, the QN-X90. The first version was a pre-dev proof of concept DOS environment, created as a test of the feasibility of quantum operating environments and quantum computers. It was successful, and further development was began immediately.

The attack of Microsoft
5 years later, Microsoft Corporation introduced Windows 95. Lumos were shocked at the technical advancements of Windows 95, including the introduction of a taskbar and start menu, and scrambled to one-up Microsoft at their own game. What came of this was the first developer release of Borealis. It was distributed to hobbyists and developers at INFOCOM 1995. Consumer feedback was acceptable, and Lumos pursued further advancement of their operating system. Microsoft dealt another heavy blow to Lumos Computer Systems one year later in 1996 with the release of Windows NT 4.0. Revolutionising the home computer industry with their introduction of new technologies, Windows NT blew Borealis away with its cutting edge technology, innovative features and blistering fast computing speeds (at least in 90s terms anyway). Determined not to be wiped out, Lumos put their foot down and created an NT-like codebase to base Borealis on. The resulting operating system was monumentally faster and more powerful than anything Microsoft or even Apple had ever created. Microsoft were shocked at the footage that their corporate spies had captured, and decided that it was best to leave Lumos to do as they pleased, and Microsoft continued on their own affairs, not trying to compete with Lumos any further.

Initial test releases
The first test release was sent out to developers in November of 1996, and the reviews were adequately positive. Noting this, Lumos began developing their newfound operating system more aggressively to ensure their corporate survival. Three years later, in 1999, the final test release of Borealis before the first alpha release was introduced to select testers. This final test release incorporated many of the features that are seen in Borealis today.