The article our company published in "Computer Business News" on September 25, 2006, Issue 254, Total No. 4488
http://www.cbinews.com/smb/43428.html
Is the DOS system dead?
People's understanding of DOS is恐怕such a concept: backward in function, simple in interface, difficult to apply. But in fact, DOS still has great uses in today's era when Windows dominates the world.
DOS is a very practical operating system, so it is deeply loved by people at home and abroad, and has always had hundreds of millions of users. Since Microsoft began to abandon its own MS-DOS and turn to developing Windows, the development of DOS has been greatly restricted and has been in silence for a long time. But a latest news from foreign media has broken this situation: The open-source version of MS-DOS, FreeDOS, is about to release version 1.0, which undoubtedly brings an exciting good news to the majority of DOS enthusiasts.
First, let's talk about the price of software under the DOS platform. Because domestic software manufacturers generally are not very enthusiastic about DOS, developers over-pursue software trends, strive to make their software powerful under the Windows platform, but ignore many actual application needs, resulting in an increase in software development costs and a high price of many commercial software. In fact, the functions that many small and medium-sized enterprises need for informatization are not necessarily very broad, but must be very specialized. In this case, many software developed under DOS are very suitable for such needs. DOS is very mature in both the number and functions of software. Compared with the recently emerging Linux, DOS has almost all the functions that Linux has, and DOS also has many functions that Linux does not have. And the number of DOS software is quite large, at least hundreds of thousands, far exceeding the number of Linux software. With the development of Linux and the support of its enthusiasts, the position of Windows has been challenged. But in fact, Linux is more suitable for high-end servers, not for desktops. On the contrary, DOS is the most suitable system for small and medium-sized users. Because DOS has extremely low requirements for the configuration of the running platform, those old computers that are almost thrown away by many people can run it well. In this way, it can greatly reduce a part of the cost of informatization management for some enterprises. If DOS can meet their needs, there is no need to choose to use the more expensive Windows or linux platform. For example, Beijing Xike Huaxing Technology Co., Ltd., which specializes in small enterprise management software, its Xike Billiard Hall Management System is such a management software based on the FreeDOS platform. Currently, hundreds of billiard halls in Beijing are running this software, and most of them use the old computers that have been eliminated. And such a computer only costs about 500 yuan, saving thousands of yuan for buying new computers. If it were not for this software, they would probably have become waste. At the same time, this software under DOS can very well meet the applications such as member management and billing management involved in billiard hall management.
Let's talk about the security of software application again. The viruses under the DOS system are also relatively fewer than those under the Windows platform. New viruses are almost no one developing, and the existing virus-killing software can also handle it easily. From this perspective, the running environment of the DOS system is relatively very safe, and system stability is exactly the most important thing for enterprise applications.
Of course, DOS is not perfect. For example, in the process of reading and writing to the disk, because the operation mode is different from that of Windows, the widely used hard disk media is not the most suitable for DOS, resulting in data being prone to errors. This is also one of the reasons why many people think DOS is backward. But the development of flash memory technology has brought a breakthrough to the storage bottleneck of DOS. Simply put, the storage mode of flash memory is just suitable for the needs of DOS: fast storage speed, stable and safe data. Although the current flash memory capacity is far smaller than that of traditional hard disks, the application programs under DOS are also far from reaching the size of several gigabytes under the Windows platform. So the emergence of flash memory has brought new opportunities to DOS: overcoming the storage problem, DOS has been raised to a new height. The combined application of DOS and flash memory technology will be a new opportunity for development. In this regard, Mr. Lu Qingcheng, the general manager of Beijing Xike Huaxing Technology Co., Ltd. mentioned earlier, said: Our new version of the billiard hall management system has been launched in the form of combining flash memory and the DOS platform. This combination will make the data of our customers more stable and safe, and help them have a new breakthrough in business.
We can see that except that those large applications have higher requirements for the system platform, for some small and medium-sized enterprise applications with a wide coverage, DOS is a very good choice. For example, the billiard hall management we talked about, and other similar management applications, or the management of customers and telephone records by small sales companies, DOS is enough to meet these application needs. At the same time, if it is an application type for exclusive machine use, viruses can almost be completely eliminated, the system environment is relatively more stable, and the user's risk is also greatly reduced.
In conclusion, DOS is an operating system with strong vitality and comprehensive functions. At home and abroad, DOS is widely used, whether in some personal applications or enterprise applications (especially very important embedded systems, etc.). Therefore, everyone should view DOS from the perspective that DOS and its software are still constantly updated and developed. In this way, the development prospect of DOS will be better and better. When some software dominates the world, let us still have some even better choices.
Note: The FreeDOS project started in 1994, when Microsoft released Windows 95 and stopped supporting MS-DOS. Jim Hall, the founder of FreeDOS, started working on this open-source operating system at that time. FreeDOS is based on the GNU GPL agreement, so programmers can completely develop new software for it without relying on MS-DOS.)
http://www.cbinews.com/smb/43428.html
Is the DOS system dead?
People's understanding of DOS is恐怕such a concept: backward in function, simple in interface, difficult to apply. But in fact, DOS still has great uses in today's era when Windows dominates the world.
DOS is a very practical operating system, so it is deeply loved by people at home and abroad, and has always had hundreds of millions of users. Since Microsoft began to abandon its own MS-DOS and turn to developing Windows, the development of DOS has been greatly restricted and has been in silence for a long time. But a latest news from foreign media has broken this situation: The open-source version of MS-DOS, FreeDOS, is about to release version 1.0, which undoubtedly brings an exciting good news to the majority of DOS enthusiasts.
First, let's talk about the price of software under the DOS platform. Because domestic software manufacturers generally are not very enthusiastic about DOS, developers over-pursue software trends, strive to make their software powerful under the Windows platform, but ignore many actual application needs, resulting in an increase in software development costs and a high price of many commercial software. In fact, the functions that many small and medium-sized enterprises need for informatization are not necessarily very broad, but must be very specialized. In this case, many software developed under DOS are very suitable for such needs. DOS is very mature in both the number and functions of software. Compared with the recently emerging Linux, DOS has almost all the functions that Linux has, and DOS also has many functions that Linux does not have. And the number of DOS software is quite large, at least hundreds of thousands, far exceeding the number of Linux software. With the development of Linux and the support of its enthusiasts, the position of Windows has been challenged. But in fact, Linux is more suitable for high-end servers, not for desktops. On the contrary, DOS is the most suitable system for small and medium-sized users. Because DOS has extremely low requirements for the configuration of the running platform, those old computers that are almost thrown away by many people can run it well. In this way, it can greatly reduce a part of the cost of informatization management for some enterprises. If DOS can meet their needs, there is no need to choose to use the more expensive Windows or linux platform. For example, Beijing Xike Huaxing Technology Co., Ltd., which specializes in small enterprise management software, its Xike Billiard Hall Management System is such a management software based on the FreeDOS platform. Currently, hundreds of billiard halls in Beijing are running this software, and most of them use the old computers that have been eliminated. And such a computer only costs about 500 yuan, saving thousands of yuan for buying new computers. If it were not for this software, they would probably have become waste. At the same time, this software under DOS can very well meet the applications such as member management and billing management involved in billiard hall management.
Let's talk about the security of software application again. The viruses under the DOS system are also relatively fewer than those under the Windows platform. New viruses are almost no one developing, and the existing virus-killing software can also handle it easily. From this perspective, the running environment of the DOS system is relatively very safe, and system stability is exactly the most important thing for enterprise applications.
Of course, DOS is not perfect. For example, in the process of reading and writing to the disk, because the operation mode is different from that of Windows, the widely used hard disk media is not the most suitable for DOS, resulting in data being prone to errors. This is also one of the reasons why many people think DOS is backward. But the development of flash memory technology has brought a breakthrough to the storage bottleneck of DOS. Simply put, the storage mode of flash memory is just suitable for the needs of DOS: fast storage speed, stable and safe data. Although the current flash memory capacity is far smaller than that of traditional hard disks, the application programs under DOS are also far from reaching the size of several gigabytes under the Windows platform. So the emergence of flash memory has brought new opportunities to DOS: overcoming the storage problem, DOS has been raised to a new height. The combined application of DOS and flash memory technology will be a new opportunity for development. In this regard, Mr. Lu Qingcheng, the general manager of Beijing Xike Huaxing Technology Co., Ltd. mentioned earlier, said: Our new version of the billiard hall management system has been launched in the form of combining flash memory and the DOS platform. This combination will make the data of our customers more stable and safe, and help them have a new breakthrough in business.
We can see that except that those large applications have higher requirements for the system platform, for some small and medium-sized enterprise applications with a wide coverage, DOS is a very good choice. For example, the billiard hall management we talked about, and other similar management applications, or the management of customers and telephone records by small sales companies, DOS is enough to meet these application needs. At the same time, if it is an application type for exclusive machine use, viruses can almost be completely eliminated, the system environment is relatively more stable, and the user's risk is also greatly reduced.
In conclusion, DOS is an operating system with strong vitality and comprehensive functions. At home and abroad, DOS is widely used, whether in some personal applications or enterprise applications (especially very important embedded systems, etc.). Therefore, everyone should view DOS from the perspective that DOS and its software are still constantly updated and developed. In this way, the development prospect of DOS will be better and better. When some software dominates the world, let us still have some even better choices.
Note: The FreeDOS project started in 1994, when Microsoft released Windows 95 and stopped supporting MS-DOS. Jim Hall, the founder of FreeDOS, started working on this open-source operating system at that time. FreeDOS is based on the GNU GPL agreement, so programmers can completely develop new software for it without relying on MS-DOS.)
