On Sun, 20 Jan 2002 11:51:20 -0500 (EST), Steve <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Jan 2002, Clarence Verge wrote: >> With DOS I can take a program written in 1980 and use it now >> on the latest DOS. I can also take the latest DOS application >> and run it on DOS 3.3. > Lots of stuff that was written for DOS in 1980 won't > run on later DOS's. Part of the reason I abandoned DOS > when I did was for that very reason. Some stuff just > wouldn't work on newer hardware with newer DOS's. What, please ? > I don't know what you mean by the "latest DOS app" > but I can guarantee that there are plenty of apps > written for DOS 5 or DOS 6, which will NOT run on > DOS 3.3. I know that I can write applications that REQUIRE DOSs later than 3.3, but I don't. And I haven't yet come across a DOS app that won't run on 3.3. Michael has one .dgi that requires DOS 5.0 (mem /c), but it can easily be modified to use other functions available on my DOS 3.3 box. The last Autocad written for DOS (9 something) will run on 3.3. Lots of software says it reqires 5+, but that's mostly because the documentation authors can't imagine anyone getting by with only a 32Mb partition. >> With Windoze and Linux neither of the above will work due to an >> entirely different philosophy. Sell them something new tomorrow >> AND make damn sure they have to buy something ELSE to run it ! > Huh??? Linux works fine on my 486, and I hear from > reliable sources that it'll even function on a 386. > FreeBSD 4.4 is the very latest of that OS, and it runs > on a 486 too. > Nobody in the 'nix world is making anybody BUY anything! > If you want to run Linux kernel 1.0.1, you're > perfectly free to do so. Just don't expect every > programmer in the world to make his programs backward > compatible to that kernel... That'd be ridiculous. Let's not argue about what we are free to do. Sure Linux works fine on your 486. See my DOS 3.3 comment above. Try using the latest and greatest on your 486.:( I'm really depressed about our options. The gist of my message was that we have already seen the way of the future for everyone not firmly stuck in the past like me and some others here. I don't like it. I would like another option, please. ;-) >> DOS is dead. Windows is only imitating life. >> Linux (Unix) has been around along time, but it has cancer. > DOS is a favorite old sweater that is full of holes. > It's time to throw it away, but it's hard to make that > break, so most of us will stash it in the attic. > Windows these days is simply imitating 'nix. Ok.:) > Linux is like a living language. It grows and > changes whenever and however the army of volunteer > programmers decide to take it. As an individual > user, you are free to "freeze" your static box at > any moment in time you want... or to ride the waves > of KDE and Gnome and all the other cutting edge > stuff that seems to get some people all excited. Naturally, we need that sort of thing in our world. :) >> IMO, the final answer lies elsewhere. > The answer lies within you. You are the one who > decides which trade-offs you're willing to make. > You are the one who decides what hardware to purchase > (or carry home from the dump). You are the one who > decides which OS and what version to run. You are the > one who decides what software to buy/download. True, but surely you have heard the murmuring here. Many want to trade UP. And the sample of users we have here is definitely not representative. Let's say for every one person on this list there is 1000 or 1million in the closet that feel the same. I would not wish ANY of them to move to M$wincrap. Moving to Linux is preferable of course, but for the average user that IS going mean moving regularly for the rest of his/her life, isn't it ? To me my computer is just a tool. I want to use it every day, not upgrade it every day. Of course there is some exaggeration for effect above, so it won't be necessary to argue with it. <g> The required upgrades would probably be bi-yearly. This computer is a P90 running DOS 5.0. My OFFICE computer is a 1990 33Mhz '486 running DOS 3.3. Am I late for my upgrade ?-)) (Yeah, about $12000 CAD) - Clarence Verge - Back to using Arachne V1.62 ....
