Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!amdahl!pacbell!att!laidbak!elaited!daveb
From: daveb@elaited.i88.isc.com (Dave Burton)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: dosread.c again
Message-ID: <1989Oct23.185242.22664@i88.isc.com>
Date: 23 Oct 89 18:52:42 GMT
References: <3717@ast.cs.vu.nl> <3a18.2536ede8@ibmpcug.co.uk> <3721@ast.cs.vu.nl> <6627@ficc.uu.net> <9830@attctc.Dallas.TX.US>
Sender: usenet@i88.isc.com (Usenet News)
Reply-To: daveb@i88.isc.com (Dave Burton)
Organization: Interactive Systems Corporation, Naperville, IL
Lines: 42

In article <9830@attctc.Dallas.TX.US> chasm@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Charles Marslett) writes:
|If you can mention a single real alternative to DOS on an 80x86 machine
|that qualifies (even being rather liberal and ignoring the cost of application
|programs) as low cost, I'll shut up and go along with this (%censored%).

Then goes on to discount several possible alternatives:
|Minix [is not commercial quality].
|DRDOS has most of the drawbacks of MSDOS, and a few extra.
|Xenix costs more than the machine I run it on ...
|Interactive Unix is even more (and runs only on a 386).
|VM/386 is likewise nice, but not cheap ...

Then asks:
|And I cannot waste the netwidth for a complete list, so I'll just ask: 
|what is a worthwhile alternative??

I run ESIX, which is a full SVR3.2 UNIX, with a complete development
environment (including X.11.3) that puts anything on MSDOS to shame,
and spent a total of $395.00 for it. (I believe it's a bit more expensive
now - $595? - but it's still inexpensive).

I used to run uPort UNIX SVR5.2 on a PC/AT, and if memory serves, I paid
$545 for the complete development system, with most/all? the DWB.

For MSDOS I paid (once upon a time):
	MSDOS 3.3		 75
	Microsoft C 4.0		400
	MKS Toolkit		100
	Polytron Make		 80
				---
				655
and I didn't have any form of source code control, parser generator(s),
languages other than C,ksh,awk (the last two from the Toolkit), document
preparation tools, windowing/multitasking capabilities, communications,
or many other useful - arguably necessary - tools.

I think the inexpensive argument is a bit weak. DOS, while on the whole
cheaper than *IX, is still not inexpensive. Windows requires at least a
286, really a 386. And what about OS/2? (*Rhetorical only!!*)
-- 
Dave Burton
uunet!ism780c!laidbak!daveb