XML on DOS?

[farmfield]

So what if Micro$oft did a Linux? What if they descided to develop DOS into a modern OS supporting all that needed to be supported, mounted a fancy shell of XML and Eye-Candy on top of it all... Would it work?

So I'm really asking; Could Microsoft change direction and go back to the Windows 3.11 design with - as with Linux - a shell on top of the OS?

I now they won't, just asking if that would be possible at all - I know DOS in the meening that I can write a script in it, hehe, but I more or less haven't a clue what it can do accept file handeling...

[ddrichardson]

Why would you want to? MS-DOS was a horribly flawed OS - no multi user support, poor memory management and no support really for multi-tasking.

Windows users hate the command line in any case.

[twistedtwig]

Windows users hate the command line in any case.

I think thats a bit harash and generic.. a lot do but there are a lot out there.. older windows mainly I admit, but who happily use dos, bat files, command line utils on a daily / weekly basis.

[ddrichardson]

I think thats a bit harash and generic.. a lot do but there are a lot out there.. older windows mainly I admit, but who happily use dos, bat files, command line utils on a daily / weekly basis.You can't win on these forums, if you promote the command line you're called a dinosaur and if you promote the GUI someone pop's up to contradict you. I'll refine that statement to "Today's average Windows user".

The DOS command line is dreadful, the batch file has no real support for iteration or even selection. The directory slash points the wrong way and tabline completion didn't appear until late in it's lifetime.

The only thing it had going for itself was qbasic.

[maybeway36]

What they should do is build a Unix system with a Windows compatibility layer. Unix is the bomb, and everyone knows it.
P.S. I have FreeDOS installed on my home computer to play old games. :)

[xtacocorex]

Microsoft has already done this with Windows 3.1 which was started from a DOS prompt at least on the computers I've used that had it on there.

When Windows 95 released, they kept the underlying DOS, but didn't allow you to boot to it.

[ddrichardson]

Microsoft has already done this with Windows 3.1 which was started from a DOS prompt at least on the computers I've used that had it on there.

The original post says this.


When Windows 95 released, they kept the underlying DOS, but didn't allow you to boot to it.Yes it did, just in an odd way, you needed to be in the GUI to Reboot in MS-DOS mode. MS-DOS didn't actually disappear until the NT tree was finally absorbed into the home OS's, the last version to work this way was Windows ME (shudder).

[happysmileman]

I think thats a bit harash and generic.. a lot do but there are a lot out there.. older windows mainly I admit, but who happily use dos, bat files, command line utils on a daily / weekly basis.

I love the CLI on Linux but can't do anything on the Windows CLI, the problem isn't that Windows users don't like the command prompt, the problem is that the Windows CLI is a steaming pile of ****, and the Windows users see it as exactly that.

The bigger problem is that they see bash and immediately think it's the same **** that Microsoft has been giving them for years and they'll never be able to do anything in it, when in fact it is well more featured and can be used as a substitute for almost any GUI

[maybeway36]

If you have Windows 9x, just press F8 before the Windows 9x bootsplash appears, and choose "Command Prompt Only" Tada!
Seriously though, they should just turn Windows into Unix. Can you think of any other major OS that's not a Unix-like system?

[ddrichardson]

Unix didn't gain market dominance due to it's own in fighting, see Unix Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_wars).

People discuss a Windows rewrite, but this has been tried before with the NT kernel and didn't really change anything.

[mech7]

I could swear i read article some monthts ago that ms is making a server os without GUI, it was aimed at the webserver market which is pretty much linux only.

[ddrichardson]

Microsoft is making a server os with a GUI - home server which is due for release in the near future. It's a definate stab at a market Linux is dominating.

[Nekiruhs]

So what if Micro$oft did a Linux? What if they descided to develop DOS into a modern OS supporting all that needed to be supported, mounted a fancy shell of XML and Eye-Candy on top of it all... Would it work?

So I'm really asking; Could Microsoft change direction and go back to the Windows 3.11 design with - as with Linux - a shell on top of the OS?

I now they won't, just asking if that would be possible at all - I know DOS in the meening that I can write a script in it, hehe, but I more or less haven't a clue what it can do accept file handeling...
What does XML have anything to do with this? XML is a markup language commonly used from classifying, organizing, and storing data and information. Of course you can use XML on DOS, DOS could read plain text files.