4 Feb
2017
4 Feb
'17
6:44 p.m.
On Sat, 4 Feb 2017, Michael Kjörling wrote:
On 4 Feb 2017 07:00 +1100, from dave(a)horsfall.org
(Dave Horsfall):
MS-DOS 2 took an OS that was largely inspired by CP/M and replaced the
file API *with that of Xenix* just to add directory support. Best change
they ever made. Now if only IBM hadn't forced them to use \ as the
path separator instead of /, it would've been slightly better.
Still, MS-DOS was probably the most C-friendly system out there that
wasn't a Unix or Unix clone.
Bit hackish how they emulated piping, though didn't "Mini Unix" do the
same thing?
Just think: without those two, we'd all be
running M$ Windoze and
thinking that it's wonderful.
I wouldn't be so sure that claim should stand uncontested, given that
PC-DOS 2.0 (long before Windows) largely copied the concept of
directories from UNIX. Just think how wonderful Windows would be if it
was running on top of a file system that lacked the concept of
directories. Then again IIRC the original Macintosh file system had
no concept of
directories, but they somehow faked them in software. Makes you wonder
why they went through all that trouble instead of implementing
_proper_ support for directories/folders/filing cabinets/drawers/etc.
I believe this is correct.
-uso.