The History of Neko: From 1980s MS-DOS to Macintosh Screen Pet
By
mifydev
Pulled from the oven just right. Trustworthy, fact-dense, deeply satisfying.
Summary
Neko is a classic software pet program featuring a cat that chases the mouse cursor on screen, with origins dating back to the 1980s. The original NEKO.COM was created by Naoshi Watanabe for NEC PC-9801 computers running MS-DOS. The software evolved with NekoDA for Macintosh in 1989, created by Kenji Gotoh (also known as Juan Gotoh), who later became a manga illustrator and contributed new cat designs. The article traces the history and evolution of this iconic screen pet across different computing platforms.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledNeko is a cat that runs around on the screen, chasing the mouse cursor.
The original software based on this concept was written in the 1980's by Naoshi Watanabe (若田部 直).
It was called NEKO.COM and ran on the Japanese computer NEC PC-9801 in the MS-DOS command line.
The next version ran on the Macintosh computer as a 'desktop accessory'. It was called NekoDA, written in 1989 by Kenji Gotoh (後藤寿庵 - also known as Juan Gotoh).
The author, who has since had a career as a manga illustrator, created new image designs for the cat.
You might also wanna read
ReactOS Celebrates 30 Years of Open-Source Windows Reimplementation
ReactOS, the free and open-source reimplementation of Windows, celebrates its 30th anniversary since the first commit to its source tree. Th
reactos.org·18d ago
PipeDream on the Acorn Archimedes: A Retrospective on a Defiant Productivity Suite
A deep-dive retrospective on PipeDream, a productivity suite for the Acorn Archimedes computer. The article explores how this software rejec
stonetools.ghost.io·22d ago
A veteran developer asks: What did VB6 get right that modern .NET developers miss?
The author, a veteran developer who shipped hundreds of VB3-through-VB6 line-of-business systems between 1995 and 2010, poses two open quest
evilgeniuslabs.ca·1mo ago
Why WinForms' 1987-era form designer still dominates line-of-business development in 2026
This article examines why WinForms, with its form designer architecture originally created by Alan Cooper in 1987, remains the dominant UI f
evilgeniuslabs.ca·1mo ago
Paterson-Listings: Transcribed Source Code from Tim Paterson's Original DOS Printouts
A GitHub repository containing transcribed source code from Tim Paterson's original DOS printouts, including 86-DOS 1.00 kernel, PC-DOS 1.00
github.com·1mo agoThe Legacy of Ada: How a DoD Programming Language Shaped Modern Software Development
This essay explores the history and legacy of the Ada programming language, developed by the U.S. Department of Defense in the late 1970s. D