[2] RDOS is capable of multitasking, with the ability to run up to 32 tasks (similar to the current term threads) simultaneously on each of two grounds (foreground and background) within a 64 KB memory space.

Later versions of RDOS are compatible with Data General's 16-bit Eclipse minicomputer line.

[3] A cut-down version of RDOS, without real-time background and foreground capability but still capable of running multiple threads and multi-user Data General Business Basic, is called Data General Diskette Operating System[4] (DG-DOS or now—somewhat confusingly—simply DOS); another related operating system is RTOS, a Real-Time Operating System for diskless environments.

Data General refused to license their software and claimed their "bundling rights".

The Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear Data General's appeal, although Justices White and Blackmun would have heard it.