For the uninitiated, Icaros Desktop (formerly VmwAROS) is a distribution of the AROS Research Operating System, which in turn is an open-source clone of AmigaOS 3.x. This is all explained in the post, but I thought I'd mention it in comments in case anybody pops in to gauge interest.
Commodore Amiga computers were a type of computer that was around from the mid 80s to the mid 90s. They had their own custom hardware and operating system. After Commodore went bust, some of the fans of the Amiga platform didn't want to see it die, so they started various hardware and software projects. AROS is one of the projects started around that time (started in 1995 if I recall correctly). AROS is an open-source operating system that closely follows the design of the operating system of the Amiga. Icaros is the flagship distro for AROS.
Distressingly likely. It's easy to overlook the fact that Microsoft had considerable dominance in BASIC implementations even before the IBM PC took off, with several major vendors shipping a rebranded version of Microsoft BASIC in ROM (Commodore BASIC, Tandy TRS/Color BASIC, Applesoft BASIC), and others selling it as an add-on package (e.g. Atari Microsoft BASIC). They probably would have gotten a foothold operating systems one way or another once multitasking became a big deal.
On Thomson computers also, it was "BASIC MICROSOFT 1.0" as standard 'OS', provided as cartridge on TO7 and included as ROM on MO5 (and later, on TO8), if I am not mistaken.
It's not called ARCOS. It's AROS: (originally) the Amiga Research Operating System. (Due to a trademark claim, it is now the recursive AROS Research OS.)
AROS is not a distro; the word "distro" implies Linux. This is not Linux, nor is it even Unix.
Arguably it is a distribution of AROS, but the term is confusing and misleading.
