Hi Folks,
Robert Deering wrote:
> There no longer exists any such thing as a "DOS guru". Sad.
> DOS is dead. Live with it. Having a rough time with the fact, myself.
Well, cheer up. DOS is not dead, and there ARE DOS GURUs. :)
We have several subscribed to this mailing list.
FWIW: I use DOS almost exclusively, for my business and for my hobbies.
Almost all the software that I have paid for have been DOS applications - word
processing, data base, internet, programming. I can play music (except
Real), video (mostly), view graphics, etc..
What I can't do in DOS, I have Win 3.1 for. At the moment I can only
sequence MIDIs from Win 3.1, so if I can't find a DOS MIDI sequencer
that works, I may have to write one myself.
While "dinosaurs" like me continue to use DOS, and write personal
applications for DOS, there is no way that DOS is dead. Obviously, there
are others who feel the same - have a look at the public repositories at
Simtel and Garbo and the like. Plenty of new DOS aplications and updates
to be found.
The only reason that there may not be a DOS application for a
particular purpose is that no-one has written it yet, or there is a
proprietory file format involved (that hasn't yet been cracked). Yet. :)
And Or Botton wrote:
> For the private user who just want to get a job done fast, or in
> buisness, or in the embadded system market, or in mission critical
> devices, its very much alive.
Damn right !
> Regarding streaming audio: Just because there is no DOS program that
> support this, no one said its impossible. Fact: Arachne and Quickview
> were an "impossibility" until awhile ago.
> For the real power user, there is no such thing as a "dead system".
> For he/she can use it without needing the support of the rest of
> the mainstream market.
So true. :)
> So, if you are talking from the aspect of what the mainstream home
> user market believe, its dead.
> And i'd rather let them keeping on thinking so. Its actually better
> this way.
I think both Or and Florian have the right idea. Anything (almost) can be written
if the format is known and with (if necessary) the correct DOS-Extender /
library whatevers, or a port from Linux, and a will to make it happen.
I look forward to a long and eventful life computing in DOS.
Regards,
Ron
Ron Clarke http://homepages.valylink.net.au/~ausreg/music.html
-- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Versatile Internet Client
