DOS

OPERATING SYSTEMS
DOS
WIN 3.x 
WINDOWS '95
WINDOWS '98 
WINDOWS NT
NOS 
LINUX
UNIX
BeOS
MINIX
DOS CONTENTS
WHAT IS DOS?
WHY USE DOS?
DOS BEYOND Y2K.
RELATED LINKS
WEBSITES
NEWSGROUPS
WHAT IS DOS?
DOS = Disk Operating System
DOS comes in many "flavors" from various Software vendors. IBM makes PC-DOS, Caldera made Dr. DOS. Even Microsoft made MS-DOS.

It is fair to say that MS-DOS is the back-bone of the Microsoft Windows OS [Windows 3.x, '95 & '98]. While some may debate about whether or not Windows '95 and '98 are true OS's or not, it is the opinion of this website that they are not. Take away DOS and they won't work. Simple as that.

WHY USE DOS?
DOS is strong.
Although DOS can be considered an OS that is not big on "positive re-inforcement", it is deceptively easy to use and suprisingly powerful. If you are going to customize or automate your Windows '95 or '98, there is very little that you can't accomplish with DOS. There are also a few things that you can do in DOS that are nearly impossible to accomplish within the Windows GUI environment.

DOS is well documented.

There is a myriad of documentation and websites available to choose from on the Internet. [btw, you can achieve an Internet connection w/ DOS, too]
Because DOS is considerd an 'obsolete' OS environment by some, you can pick up books on it from your local bookstore at amazingly cheap prices.

It's the 'next best' command line OS.

We say 'next best' when comparing it to the grand-daddy OS, Unix [and Unix flavors like Linux, etc.] DOS might seem complex to use at first, but once you get the hang of it, I'm sure you wouldn't want to be without it.

DOS BEYOND Y2K.
While we are not sure what the future holds for DOS [in any of it's forms], we are relatively sure that most companies see it as an obsolete OS. Microsoft is working to become DOS free.
Although it is interesting to note that in their own knowledge base is a document that states that MSDOS 6.22 will not wear out till well after the year 2030.
WEBSITES
If you would like your own website added to this list, or if you know of a good one that is missing, please email nanogig and let him know.
Conversely, if you'd like to have your name taken off this list, please do the same as above.

WEBSITES:
Home of The DOS Batch File Programming Handbook
Rob van der Woude's homepage
Dirk Van Deun's Batch Programming Elements
DOS Command Index
Tom Lavedas' Batch File Programming
Eric's Batch Programming Page
 

NEWSGROUPS
alt.comp.os.msdos
alt.msdos.batch
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email webmaster: nanogig