From: sydbarrett AT mindspring DOT com (Victor Escobar -- DirectX 5.0 Beta Tester)
To: "Hilton Fernandes" <hfernandes AT mail DOT geocities DOT com>
Cc: djgpp AT delorie DOT com, Hilton Fernandes <hfernandes AT mail DOT geocities DOT com>
Subject: Re: The is world dropping MS-DOS.  What about DJGPP? (Was Re: Quake 
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:20:10 GMT
Message-ID: <33ef024c.78623843@mail.mindspring.com>
References: <199708110648 DOT XAA00242 AT geocities DOT com>
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On Mon, 11 Aug 1997 03:53:23 +0000, you wrote:

>DJGPP is the best and most complete implementation of GNU tools
>outside UNIX.  It is a development environment so good that even its
>newsgroup is nice, full of kind and generous persons.
>
Agreed!  Kudos to Eli, Shawn Hargreaves, DJ, and other regulars on
this list:  DJGPP is a triumph to free software; it has proven that
you DON'T need billions of dollars in your coffers to release an
innovative piece of software.

>However, a terrible ghost is getting closer to this technical
>treasure: slowly but firmly Microsoft is managing to bring MS-DOS
>into oblivion.  And the new incarnations of its operating systems --
>Win NT and Win 98 -- seem to make increasingly difficult the
>execution of MS-DOS programs.
>
IMHO, Microsoft is ignoring the DOS market at its own peril.  Much of
the embedded market is still 808x microcontrollers running versions of
DOS.  Plus, many schools and poorer families don't have the money to
buy the latest Pentium II to run a bloated copy of Memphis, so DOS is
still essential.

>So, the question is: where will the legacy of djgpp go when MS-DOS is
>finished?  What should be the plan?  Try to migrate to OpenDOS? 
>
Most definitely, or FreeDOS, or any of the other free DOS
alternatives.  Go where development is still alive.
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Victor Escobar        |
Internet Consultant   |
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