This display control device (10), which controls a display unit (51) in a vehicle and is provided with dedicated middleware (13) that can execute vehicle-side dedicated application programs (16), general-purpose middleware (14) that can execute general-purpose application programs (17) external to the vehicle, and an interface (15) that transfers necessary information between the dedicated and general-purpose middleware, is also provided with the following: a startup means (10a) that, upon startup, starts up the dedicated middleware first and starts up the general-purpose middleware after that; and a dedicated display control means (10b) that, if a dedicated application program running on the dedicated middleware becomes usable before the general-purpose middleware finishes starting up, displays a dedicated control screen, on the abovementioned display unit via the dedicated middleware, for starting up said dedicated application program.