DOS. The epitome of simplicity. Has there ever been an OS more fail-safe than DOS?
I think not. Simplicity ensures reliability. I have been using DOS since 1991, when I got my first PC, an IBM PC/XT. While I was initially clueless, I picked up a few books and learned DOS.
DOS software is still being developed because people like me are still
buying it.
Much of this software is modern, graphical programs, yet they do not
require some bloated OS to run them.
Command-Line interpreters are the most efficient way to manage files
and to run a computer in general.
A properly setup DOS system with batch files is more efficient then
a GUI for launching programs as well.
For those of you who can't type: You should not be using a computer!
It is my opinion that anybody, given half an hour and some simple directions, can use DOS:
Most common use of DOS can be done with the following 7 commands:
DIR - list a DIRectory of files on a disk
CD - Change Directory (folder)
MD - Make Directory
RD - Remove Directory
DEL - DELete files
FORMAT - FORMAT a disk
COPY - COPY files
DOS works. I don't have to have the latest version of DOS to run the latest DOS software. It does not grind at my hard disk like Windows does, even though I have 128megs of RAM. It does not try to re-install my modem at random (or forget I have one). It does not sporadically decide to have a "General Protection Fault" and it doesn't get slower and slower as I use it. Further, it does not require 32megs of RAM to run, nor do most DOS programs. And, my registry doesn't get corrupted because DOS does not use one.
All of the above are characteristics of Windows.
Windows is a money-pit. Run Windows on your PC and get ready to pay and pay and pay some more.
Check out my DosStart! page if you want
to run DOS and have an efficient GUI.
Check out this site
for DOS Software (commercial/shareware/freeware).
Think you need some big GUI OS to surf the web graphically? Wrong!
Check out Arachne, the graphical DOS
web browser that runs on XTs and up!