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From: longc@cs.fau.edu (Courtney Long)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: How wrong is MS-DOS? (or: What is the definition of obsolete)
Message-ID: <1991Jan08.040128.22819@cs.fau.edu>
Date: 8 Jan 91 04:01:28 GMT
References: <1991Jan6.183213.27136@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> <1991Jan06.204401.21579@turnkey.tcc.com> <1991Jan6.232549.2764@isis.cs.du.edu>
Organization: Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Lines: 37

In article <1991Jan6.232549.2764@isis.cs.du.edu> dkessner@isis.UUCP (David D. Kessner) writes:
>There is an important thing to remember here.  MS-DOS is just about obsolete.
>
Sorry about a operating system discussion on an ARCHITECHTURE (HARDWARE) 
forum, but I can't let this one go by.  MS-DOS is NOT anywhere near obsolete
and I can't believe someone would say this!  There are just too many PC's
with too little memory and tiny little 808x processors for this to be true.
And, if MS-DOS were about to become obsolete, there would not be any future
versions of DOS.

>..............  At times I come up with a great new algorithm, but it cannot
>be done under MS-DOS without jumping through hoops.  I usually end up using
>MS-DOS more as an overglorified program loader than anything else.  Now, I
>cannot live without my UUCP, multi-user multi-tasking, etc, etc.  In that
>respect, MS-DOS is obsolete (and can loosely be called WRONG).
>

I'm certain that your algorithms are quite good.  Keep in mind that:

   1.  You don't use a garden hoe to grade for an interstate highway.

   2.  Tubes aren't often found in digital computing systems.

>I wonder what would happen is MS-DOS would be more like UNIX.  With all those
>MS-DOS programmers who could better spend their time programming rather than
>compensating for the OS.

You'll probably see a wider base of UNIX operating systems in the future.
Yes, UNIX is a "professional" operating system (although you won't hear that
from MVS users) and offers a rich programming environment.  Enjoy UNIX, but
remember that you're really in the minority for small systems (as far as
operating systems are concerned) !
>
>David Kessner
>kessner!david@csn.org

Courtney