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1993-01-12
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This preview of MS-DOS version 6.0 is excerpted from
PC Magazine Volume 12 Number 1, January 12, 1993, page 29.
########################################################################
********* DOS 6 TO DOUBLE HARD DISKS *********
***** Microsoft Hopes to Repeat DOS 5 Success *****
Imagine a software package that doubles the size of your hard disk,
gives your applications lots more RAM, and protects your data with a
handful of basic utilities for less than $100. Sounds too good to be
true? Microsoft is betting it sounds good enough to buy. It hopes the
combination of built-in compression and memory optimization will make
MS-DOS 6 every bit as popular as MS-DOS 5 has become.
In PC software history, the success of DOS 5 is second only to Windows
3.1. But Microsoft hasn't always been so adept at getting its operating
system customers to upgrade, and not every DOS upgrade has fared so well
in the marketplace. MS-DOS 4.01 flopped when it debuted in November of
1989. Microsoft blamed IBM's buggy 4.0 release for the weak reception,
but when it came right down to it, users just didn't find DOS 4's new
features -- a shell interface, expanded-memory device drivers, and
support for large hard disk partitions -- enticing enough to bother
upgrading. The experience taught Microsoft some valuable lessons about
what it takes to make an upgrade succeed: compelling features,
exhaustive testing, and retail availabity are the keys, the company
concluded.
By its June l99l introduction, MS-DOS 5 had been tested by 7.500 users,
more than any other software package to date. With it, Microsoft made a
version of DOS available through the retail channel for the first time.
And most importantly, MS-DOS 5 included memory management that was so
much better than earlier flavors of DOS that users felt they had to have
it.
Now Microsoft is using the same strategy with MS-DOS 6. The company has
already launched an extensive beta test program: Starting in August 1992
with just 2,000 users, the number will grow to 10,000 by the product's
release later this winter. And the upgrade will be available as a retail
package for under $100.
Compression may be the most compelling new feature in MS-DOS 6. The
growing popularity of products such as PKZip/PKUnzip, Stacker, and
SuperStor indicates that users are increasingly less worried about
losing data through compression. Info-Corp estimates that only one
percent of the installed base uses compression today, but it expects
that number to grow significantly. Among power users, compression is
already well estahlished; in a recent PC Magnet survey, nearly 70
percent of the 1,139 respondents said they use at least one cnmpression
product.
Like the standalone compression products, MS-DOS 6 uses an algorithm
based on the Lempel-Ziv technique that gets rid of redundancy by
tokenizing recurring data patterns. The MS-DOS 6 algorithm should double
the capacity of most hard disks.
"Memory management sold MS-DOS 5," says MS-DOS 6 product manager
Richard Freedman, "and users asked us to make it even better." In DOS 6,
a full-blown optimizer automatically sets up memory. The optimizer isn't
just easier to use, it's also more powerful. Freedman says most users
can expect it to free up approximately 150 to 200K of RAM for
applications, compared with roughly 100K with MS-DOS 5. For any user,
that's a lot, and for many it will be enough. But power users will still
want to buy add-on products to get such advanced features as
Quarterdeck's Stealth mode, which lets TSRs take advantage of the
memory areas usually used by the ROM BlOS.
In case the two big features of the new version don't win you over,
Microsoft has hedged its bets by integrating some basic utilities into
the package, most of which are subsets of popular programs. DOS 6
includes backup (real backup, this time), virus protection, undelete
(enhanced), and file transfer. But utilities developers need not fear:
MS-DOS 6 will still leave power users hungry for more advanced features.
-- Mary Kathleen Flynn