Mail Archives: opendos/2001/04/24/00:38:40
OK ... here are the clues :
1. It takes many, many years to develop a full-featured DOS, so why
haven't we heard of this "brand" until recently. Why do they not
bother to give us a history of this DOS? If they really developed
this themselves, they would be keen to demonstrate a long
history of the product's development, to re-assure potential
customers that this was a mature and stable DOS, suitable for
embedded applications.
2. The current version is 7.1, the same as for Windoze 95B and
98, and with the same FAT32 and LFN features as Windoze 9X.
They clearly have no concerns about patent issues, even though
their product is definitely commercial, not open-source.
3. The previous (or perhaps ante-previous) version was 6.22, which
"just happens" to correspond with another M$ version number
(AFAIK, not even IBM used this version number, just M$).
4. They have a product called Winlite (or something like that),
which again suggests an association with M$ products.
5. M$ used to sell a similar DOS product for embedded applications,
possibly using the name ROM-DOS (can't remember exactly).
Now, I don't have any particular problem with M$ selling DOS via
another company, like Datalight. This is much better than M$
trying to pretend that DOS no longer exists! However, what I am
saying is that this product is irrelevant to the desktop market,
because the same DOS is much more readily available under
the guise of Windoze 9X, and furthermore, we already know it's
capabilities and characteristics. As I also said, ROM-DOS is
clearly intended for OEM's only - there is no price given for it,
nor any indication of how it may be purchased by individuals.
Joe.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: florianx [SMTP:dos DOT fire AT aon DOT at]
> Sent: Thursday, 19 April 2001 21:43
> To: opendos AT delorie DOT com
> Subject: RE: DOS issues #1
>
------ snip ------
> >
> > Furthermore, there is no information about the origins
> > of ROM-DOS ... but all the clues indicate that this is
> > actually "our old friend" ;-) M$-DOS !!! From this fact
> > (?), we can deduce the following :
>
> They said on their web page, that they developed all of the stuff. I also
> don't think, that they would
> have such nice features, if they would have bought M$-DOS.
>
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