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From: jpanneko@cedar.pfc.forestry.ca (Jack Pannekoek)
Subject: Multi-User DOS Users - Where are You?
Message-ID: <1991May6.213439.1282@cedar.pfc.forestry.ca>
Sender: jpanneko@cedar.pfc.forestry.ca (Jack Pannekoek)
Organization: Forestry Canada (Pacific Forestry Centre)
Date: Mon, 6 May 1991 21:34:39 GMT

Comment:

I am a newcomer to news and have been reading many of the newsgroups 
with significant pc, database and applications content.  This is my 
first foray into actually sending a message and opening myself up to 
constructive flaming.  While I officially (get paid for) work with VAX/VMS 
and now UNIX (a la ULTRIX), I also (as many of you seem to) do some 
moonlighting. Some of the latter involves micro database design including 
the development of a couple of my own vertical products.

I started with DBASE III+ but some ran into its many limitations and 
migrated to FOXPLUS and now FOXPRO for reasons of price, performance 
and a better language.  About 4 years ago I ran into a need for a 
multi point of access mechanism for my applications.  LAN's were too 
expensive, UNIX was too expensive and ugly and cheap/zero slot LAN's 
were too slow.  I ended out going the multi-user PC-MOS route (in 1987) 
as the most cost and performance effective solution to multi-user DOS 
and got multi-tasking to boot.

As a development environment, I have found it to be a sometimes rocky 
(as always - compatibility problems) but overall extremely productive 
solution.  PC-MOS seems to have matured to the point of being no worse 
than DESQVIEW or any of the other multi-tasking (single user) DOS 
environments.  In fact I have found its multi-processing efficiency to 
be superior to most of the other DOS multi-tasking environments.

Question:

There seems to be very little mention in any of the newsgroups that I 
have been reading (comp.databases, comp.os.misc, comp.os.msdos."*", 
comp.sys.ibm."*" and a few others) of multi-user DOS technology.  Am 
I really on the lunatic fringe, am I missing a newsgroup or are there 
other closet multi-user/multi-tasking DOS people out there??  For 
environemnts where UNIX system support is hard to come by and all 
those DOS programs are so friendly and familiar, is not a multi-user 
DOS environment a feasable alternative or am I missing something with 
all the money and time I have saved myself and others??

With Multi-user DRDOS (previously Concurrent DOS/386), VM-386, 
PC-MOS/386, a multi-user version of OS/2 etc. to choose from I would 
have expected somewhat more interaction on this subject.
-- 
Jack Pannekoek - Science Computer Analyst 
Internet: jpanneko@PFC.Forestry.CA