Xref: utzoo comp.arch:20002 comp.os.misc:1429 Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!csun!kithrup!sef From: sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) Newsgroups: comp.arch,comp.os.misc Subject: Re: How wrong is MS-DOS? Message-ID: <1991Jan02.062657.21032@kithrup.COM> Date: 2 Jan 91 06:26:57 GMT References: <37459@cup.portal.com> <1991Jan02.035501.9457@iecc.cambridge.ma.us> Followup-To: comp.os.misc Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd. Lines: 34 (I've crossposted this to comp.os.misc, and directed followup's there. Anyone who objects is free to change that, but it's the closest I could think of for the groups I read 8-).) In article <1991Jan02.035501.9457@iecc.cambridge.ma.us> johnl@iecc.cambridge.ma.us (John R. Levine) writes: >I'd be the last to argue that MS-DOS is the world's best operating system, but >it has its redeeming points. Agreed, and you point out some of them. My problem with DOS is that I think its time has passed. Users want/need *more*. OS/2 comes close, I guess, but I don't think it's quite right (it feels too much like DOS still 8-)). For managing the small machine that was the 8088-based IBM PC, DOS is fine. For handling the not-so-small machine that kithrup is (25MHz '386, 8Mb RAM), it is not good enough for what I want to do. My objections to DOS start at that point. There are lots of "DOS Extenders" available; I don't think any of them work as well as DOS-under-UNIX would (although they eat up a lot fewer resources, I will admit). They don't fit smoothly into it, and trying to keep up with the changing hardware and software demands is next to impossible. An example of how an OS grows to handle new hardware: '286 xenix vs. '386 xenix. The latter runs all the software from the former, plus has extensions of its own. It just ... *feels* better. Anyway: yes, DOS has its uses. If my needs were a bit smaller, DOS would probably suffice for what I want/need. -- Sean Eric Fagan | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it; sef@kithrup.COM | I had a bellyache at the time." -----------------+ -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_) Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.