BOS was designed to run programs written in p-code which would then be interpreted as they ran. At the time this was considered to be a major problem, as interpreters generally run slower than compiled programs. The increasing performance of computer hardware has generally made this a non-issue today, and the concept of p-code has been widely re-introduced in languages such as Java, where it is referred to as a virtual machine.
A range of software was available under BOS, including BOS/Finder (a database manager), BOS/Planner (spreadsheet), BOS/Writer (word processor), BOS/AutoClerk (report generator), and a suite of accounting software including BOS/Accounts Receivable, BOS/Accounts Payable, BOS/General Ledger, BOS/Inventory Control, BOS/Invoicing, BOS/Sales Order Processing. A number of languages were also available, but BOS/MicroCOBOL was the most common.