Editing ViewMAX (section)

=={{anchor|1|2|3}}Versions==
Originally named ''Navigator'' in beta versions,<ref name="MS_DR50"/> ViewMAX&nbsp;1.00<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1"/> was distributed with [[DR&nbsp;DOS 5.0]] in 1990 to provide an equivalent to [[DOSSHELL]] in [[MS-DOS 4.00 (IBM-developed)|MS-DOS]]/[[IBM&nbsp;DOS 4.0|PC&nbsp;DOS 4.0]]. It had a very similar appearance to Digital Research's previous GEM desktops – two fixed-size windows. Each window would either contain icons representing drives, directories and files, or a representation of the directory hierarchy.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1"/> If supported by the underlying operating system (such as DR&nbsp;DOS), [[FAT file password|file]] and [[FAT directory password|directory password]]s and [[FAT access rights|access permission]]s were supported. Network drives (including CD-ROM drives) were distinguished through their own icon, different from those of local drives.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX1"/>

In 1991, ViewMAX&nbsp;2 was distributed with [[DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0]]. Various graphical improvements were made in this release, including controls with a 3D appearance and user-selectable colour schemes.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> The directory tree (if enabled) was now shown beside the list of icons, rather than instead of it.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> Various settings could be stored in a configuration files named [[%DRDOSCFG%]]\VIEWMAX.INI.<ref name="Novell_1992_VM2"/><ref name="Paul_1997_DRDOS6UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/><ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> For more flexible character set support ViewMAX&nbsp;2 loaded display fonts from a standard DOS {{mono|<!-- EGA -->.CPI}} file<ref name="Paul_2001_CPI"/><ref name="Elliott_2006_CPI"/><ref name="Elliott_2006_CPPREP"/><ref name="AEB_2001_CPI"/><ref name="Haralambous_2007_CPI"/><ref name="MS_1991_PR"/> depending on the current [[code page]] rather than using a [[GEM character set|GEM specific character set]], a feature also incorporated into [[FreeGEM]] since 2005.<ref name="Elliott_2006_FreeGEM2"/> The [[DOS/V]]-compatible Japanese version of ViewMAX, as distributed with [[DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0/V]] in 1992, supported [[DBCS]] characters loaded by {{mono|[[$FONT.SYS]]}} from {{mono|SCREENHZ.FNT}}.<ref name="DRDOS60V_ViewMAX"/> Support was added for the DR&nbsp;DOS task switcher [[TaskMAX]]; if this was present, applications would be launched as separate tasks, and ViewMAX could switch between them.<ref name="Novell_1992_VM2"/><ref name="Caldera_1997_MULTI"/><ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX2"/> As TASKMGR in later operating systems such as [[Novell&nbsp;DOS 7]], [[OpenDOS 7.01]], [[DR-DOS 7.02]] and higher continued to emulate most of the task switcher API as well,<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/><ref name="Paul_2001_API"/> ViewMAX&nbsp;2 could be used to switch and control multiple concurrently running full-screen DOS tasks under the DR-DOS preemptively multitasking kernel ({{mono|[[EMM386]] /MULTI + TASKMGR}}) as well.<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOS7UN"/><ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/><ref name="Paul_2001_API"/>

ViewMAX&nbsp;3 was intended to be the graphical file manager for [[Novell]]'s next version of DR&nbsp;DOS. ViewMAX&nbsp;3 included support for colour [[Icon (computing)|icons]], movable and resizable windows, program groups, and background images.<ref name="Elliott_2013_ViewMAX3"/> If the underlying DR-DOS had the optional multi-user security module loaded, ViewMAX would also provide support for the extended world/group/owner access permission system. Although ViewMAX&nbsp;3 was part of the [[DR&nbsp;DOS "Panther"]] Beta 1 distribution in October 1992<!-- 1992-10-16 -->,<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/> it was never completed and apparently abandoned in favour to [[Apple Inc.|Apple]]'s and Novell's "[[Star Trek project|Star Trek]]" team project in 1992/1993, which remained unreleased as well. So, [[Novell&nbsp;DOS 7]], as "DR&nbsp;DOS 7.0" was called in 1994, came without any graphical file manager at all.
When [[Caldera (company)|Caldera]] bought the remaining Digital Research assets from Novell on 23 July 1996,<ref name="Leon_1996_Caldera"/> initial plans were to revive GEM and ViewMAX technologies for a low-footprint user interface for [[OpenDOS]] in mobile applications<ref name="Caldera_1997_WebSpyder"/><ref name="Jemmett_1999"/> as ''Caldera View''<!-- trademark -->, but these plans were abandoned by [[Caldera UK]] in favour of [[DR-WebSpyder]] and [[Graphical ROMable Object Windows|GROW]]. After closing the DR-DOS development center Caldera UK in early 1999, the remaining source code of the ViewMAX&nbsp;3 [[beta version]] was published in April 1999 by the US parent company [[Caldera Thin Clients]] under the [[GPL]]<ref name="Jemmett_1999"/> following continued community request to release the sources, shortly before the company changed its name to [[Lineo]] and switched to [[Linux]]-based technologies three months later.<ref name="Caldera_1999_Lineo"/> Various ViewMAX features not previously found in GEM have been incorporated into [[FreeGEM]] since then.<ref name="Elliott_2006_FreeGEM1"/><ref name="Elliott_2006_FreeGEM2"/>