Generally speaking, I would agree with you, but what I was refering to was
DOS apps that just won't work properly once they get to a Windows 95 platform
and the vendor just shaking their head and attributing the problem to Windows
95 and your kind of stuck because the piece of software goes with a very
expensive saw, so I can't just run out and buy a different package.  Then
there's the way that Windows 95 maps the ports however it sees fit, but your
older DOS package wants to use a fixed port and doesn't have the pizzazz to
find the device for you regardless of where or how its configured by the
system......complaining and whining done.

Roy Brown wrote:

> In article <[log in to unmask]>,
> Therm-O-Link <[log in to unmask]> writes
> >Hello fellow listers!
> >
> >We have a sister corporation that I provide IT oversight for that is
> >looking for a trucking application (handles dispatching of truck loads).
> >Since I could not find anything like this on the HP3000, the trucking
> >company manager is looking at some PC-based applications.  He had one
> >application demo'd on Tuesday and invited me to see it.  It was plain
> >from the start that the application was *not* Windows-based, and when
> >I asked the salesman, he confirmed that it was DOS-based, but "it runs
> >fine on Windows 95/98/NT".
> >
> >My gut-level reaction was that we should not buy any application that
> >is supposed to run on a server and is DOS-based.  Is there any basis
> >for my feeling, other than FUD?  IOW, what do you think about buying
> >DOS-based apps at this stage of the PC's development?
>
> The same as I think about buying HP3000-based apps at this stage of the
> computer market's development. I can just envisage our potential clients
> posting this same question, with those couple changes, on other app ngs.
> So please excuse me if that rather colours things for me :-)
>
> Yes, they (HP3000 or DOS apps) are going to look a bit clunky, but they
> are likely to be more solid, reliable, and efficient, than wizzy-dizzy
> GUI apps.
>
> Of course, there will be a learning curve on this unfamiliar platform
> (MPE/iX or DOS), but if the application functionality is there, this may
> be smaller than mastering a less-able app on a more familiar platform.
>
> Technically, there's nothing wrong with DOS apps on WIN; they just use a
> smaller subset of the OS' capabilities, that's all.
>
> Bottom line is: Does this app do the job? The rider to that is: better'n
> anything else your sister corp can get for the task?
>
> Of course, you might need to ask the salesman if there is any risk in
> his company going out of business because people want a GUI front end
> more than they want solid app capability....
>
> ...and as a corollary, why it isn't a WIN app? How hard could it be to
> port it, and why haven't they?....
>
> .... and you might want to put DOS into black-on-white mode, so it looks
> more like just another WIN app, but without pretty fonts and buttons...
>
> ....and unless DOS boxes can buy into Windows printer drivers (???),
> printer compatibility might be an issue; can the app drive your
> printers?
>
> Other issues are mouse (you can use it for navigation, but can't click
> on things) cut'n'paste (doable).. minimise/maximise (yes)... run other
> apps alongside..... what else?
>
> Do you need multi-user? Will you miss not having OLE, or ODBC, on it any
> time soon?
>
> (There are HP3000/HP9000 analogues of these questions of course).
>
> I had a user who was really genned-up on (and lightning fast in) DOS
> Lotus 1-2-3, Reflection, and WordPerfect. He thought Windows was the
> greatest thing ever. Not because he wanted the WIN versions of those
> products (he didn't). But because Windows let him start all three, and
> switch between them, more easily than anything he'd ever used for that
> before.
>
> Just think of the Transport app as running on a rather capable task
> switcher.
>
> Not to say that when all is said and done, things won't stack up against
> the DOS app after all, but fight that FUD. For all our sakes :-)
> --
> Roy Brown               Phone : (01684) 291710     Fax : (01684) 291712
> Affirm Ltd              Email : [log in to unmask]
> The Great Barn, Mill St 'Have nothing on your systems that you do not
> TEWKESBURY GL20 5SB (UK) know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.'