(Approx. 842 words)

Let’s never forget the first king: DOS
Written by Rick Smith, a member of the Channel Islands PC Users Group, CA
www.cipcug.org / vccomputers.com 
Rants (at) vcmail.net 

Oh where, oh where has my little DOS gone.
Oh where, oh where can it be,
with its life cut short and windows cut long
Oh where, oh where can it be?

This article has been obtained from APCUG with the author’s permission for publication by APCUG member groups; all other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above). 

Some might say that I’m losing it, but you cannot lose what you never had.
Where has DOS gone? Some might say it’s still around in the various forms of Linux. Others might say it’s buried deep in Microsoft operating systems waiting to be called out by a powerful wizard to cast potent spells with a command prompt. But most of us just believe that it’s just lost, never to found again. Like a lost pet that you once had affection for, once it’s gone you seem to remember only the good times and seem to forget all the problems that it caused you. 

DOS does that to people. There are still a few of you “old-timers,” and you know who you are! Those who sit at the doughnut table at club meetings and reminisce about the “good ol’ days” when all you needed was a Northgate keyboard and a monochrome screen to have absolute power over your world. You know what I’m talking about. Way back when people spoke about computers with fear and awe. They were things better left to experts and shady government entities. The quickest way to kill a conversation in those days was to talk command line technobabble. It always made everyone in the room feel uncomfortable that they couldn’t understand you, like you were speaking a different language. 

On the flip side, though, it gave you an incredible feeling of power, that you, and you alone, could master the savage beast and control your own destiny. Neh Ahh Ahh Yahh. (Sometimes I think all those comic books I read have permanently warped my thinking.) But really, didn’t you feel special? That you and you alone, could master something that would make others wince and shirk away. You didn’t have to be popular at school. You didn’t have to be good looking. You didn’t have to be wealthy. You did not have to have any of those things that everyone else needed to be important. You had knowledge. 

And knowing the secrets of the PC universe, did you use that knowledge to gain wisdom or for greed? I think most of you, unfortunately, like me, used it for personal greed. We gave ourselves over to the dark side of the force and used our skill to enrich ourselves financially. But eventually as we all grew older, and some of us wiser, we started using or skills to teach and help others, which led you to me, to read these words and words of others in this tome. You all became a band of brothers forming the fellowship of the DOS. 

And just! And just as your powers were at their peak, everything came crashing down like the Jedi of old. A new power rose in the universe to supplant the old ways. Windows came rushing down like a wind from heaven with trumpets blazing and fire and smoke billowing up in great clouds. And when this behemoth came to rest. its great weight crushed the last vestiges of DOS underneath its feet.

A new group came forth to rule the PC world. A group of men, and, yes, women, too. who knew nothing of the old ways but were formed from clay in the new ways. These new acolytes grew up in the ways of the PC, each having their own since they were young. 

Gone was command prompt. In was the mouse. The wizards of old became legend. And after time they have become forgotten to be remembered by only a few at computer club meetings. There are still a few prophets preaching to us not to forget the old ways. I saw one at last month’s meeting giving a history lesson at the club meeting. But they are old and feeble now with most of their words echoing on deaf ears. 

So I say to all today! Remember the DOS! Don’t let the old ways die, as you never know when you will be called upon as I have this week to use my skills again. Fortunately. I have not been found wanting as I was able to vanquish the beast with my skill at the command prompt. I have beaten down one enemy, but more are waiting to attack. 
So be on your guard, be ready, and be faithful to the cause. Put away your mice as they are no use against such foes. Operate you PC only with the keyboard and keep yourself ready for the fight. For it shall come. It shall come.