New Life for DOS?
Jesse Berst, Editorial Director
ZDNet AnchorDesk
What if I told you that I knew what would
be the most talked-about operating
system in 1999?
What if I told you it would be DOS? The same aging
operating system that preceded Windows. That's been
all but abandoned by Microsoft.
Put down that phone! You can't just call a mental
hospital and tell them to haul somebody in. And I'm not
as crazy as I sound.
Consider this. Since 1997, Orem, UT-based Caldera,
Inc. has sold 3,000,000 copies of DR-DOS -- an
MS-DOS compatible operating system acquired from
Digital Research by way of Novell. And repositioned
DR-DOS for a market at least 10 times larger than the
personal computing world.
I am referring to the market for small devices that
connect to a network -- to an intranet or to the Internet
itself. Examples include smart phones, set-top boxes,
personal digital assistants, cash registers, factory
automation, process control, avionics, handhelds,
kiosks, pay-at-the-pump, airline entertainment, security
panels, photocopiers, fax machines, game machines,
calculators, medical and laboratory measurement,
palmtops, organizers and network computers.
Starting to see why this market could explode in the
next five years? Consider what Caldera has added to
DR-DOS.
A graphical Web browser that can run on a 40
Mhz 386 with just 4 MB of RAM
ODI-based networking
Multitasking
TCP/IP, HTTP and FTP
POP3 and SMTP
Year 2000 support
Power management
Compression (can turn a 4 MB Flash ROM into
8 MB)
This is not your father's disk operating system!
Features like these explain why DR-DOS has real
benefits to hardware and software makers who want to
attack the "embedded systems" market. It's a
tremendously compact way to access the Internet,
especially when compared with Windows CE. And it's
a robust, tested system with hundreds of proven tools
and thousands of experienced programmers.
With this in mind, here are four areas where DR-DOS
has a chance. In order of likelihood:
Refurbished computers. Older 386 and 286
computers still use DOS. Caldera's DR-DOS can give
them a browser so they can be used to surf the Net.
Bonus: Some great games still run on DOS. This is an
obvious, easy market for DR-DOS, but not one that has
growth potential.
Embedded systems. DR-DOS has lots of advantages
here, but it also has dozens of competitors. Company
executives claim they will soon announce "big-name"
partnerships for set-top boxes, smart phones and
airline entertainment. We'll see.
Thin client computing. Since it can run a browser in
4MB, a DR-DOS-based device could be the ultimate
low-cost network computer, costing as little as $100.
Caldera is working to add support for both Java and
Windows Terminal Server. In theory, DR-DOS-based
terminals could display Java and Windows apps
running on the server.
Handheld systems. To win in this market, Caldera
would have to convince OEMs not to move to Windows
CE. The company's only realistic chance is at the very
low end, where its low memory requirements can save
money.
In the PC world, Windows NT 5.0 will be the story of
1999. But there's another market that -- in the long
term -- may be even more important than personal
computing. In that space, the operating system of the
year could prove to be a revamped, reconstituted
version of venerable old DOS.
Okay, now you've heard me out. Now you can call me
crazy if you want. Use the TalkBack button below and
I'll post some of your responses beneath this article.
And jump over to my Berst Alerts forum where a
discussion is already underway. |
