dosread.c again

[Gary Barrett]

> I'm sure that if DOS weren't used by COMMON PEOPLE, the DOS-haters
> would make appropriate criticisms of the many very real deficiencies
> of DOS, and leave it at that.  But as long as someone can learn to
> use a computer without devoting years of their life to it, the
> DOS-haters will remain filled with irrational hatred.

Wow, some fairly strong words here!  Might I even say ... irrational hatred?

Don't get me wrong, I believe that DOS has proven itself a very useful
tool.  But there is a heck of lot of difference between being a DOS PC
**user** and a DOS developer.  DOS-based programmers have often fought long 
and hard to get their applications to work DESPITE DOS.  And THAT is what makes
DOS PCs so special, my opinion: the applications that run over the DOS
base, not DOS per se.

But let's face it, DOS needs to enter the world of protected-mode and
multi-tasking to handle the kinds of sophisticated applications now
being demanded of desktop devices.  Does that mean OS/2 is inevitable?
Not necessarily.  OS/2 seems to be overkill.  Seems to me that if
something like the Amiga OS can exist, for a reasonable cost, we could
develop something like it (super DOS) for the PC.  Of course, I'm not
sure that fits well into IBM's plans, who targets the moneyed corporate user.
(The same may be true of Microsoft anymore, who seems to have
forgotten its roots with the "little guy".)  

I suspect that Mr. Tannenbaum's disdain for DOS comes from a
developer's (craftman's) critical eye, not from an elitist perspective.   
-- 
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Gary L. Barrett

My employer may or may not agree with my opinions.
And I may or may not agree with my employer's opinions.
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