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Say goodbye to MS-DOS command prompt - It had a good 36-year run, but its day is done

My very first technology article, back in 1987, was about MS-DOS 3.30. Almost 30 years later, I’m still writing, but the last bit of MS-DOS, cmd.exe — the command prompt — is on its way out the door.

It’s quite possible that you have been using Microsoft Windows for years — decades, even — without realizing that there’s a direct line to Microsoft’s earliest operating system or that an MS-DOS underpinning has carried over from one Windows version to another — less extensive with every revision, but still there nonetheless. Now we’re about to say goodbye to all of that.

Interestingly, though, there was not always an MS-DOS from Microsoft, and it wasn’t even dubbed that at birth. The history is worth reviewing now that the end is nigh.................

Full Story can be found at Network World Site HERE

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Man I love PowerShell. You can do some really epic stuff with it. It's a big initial learning curve if you have been used to utilizing Command Prompt for stuff, but it's an investment that pays off in the end.

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Most of our Sysadmins at work have been told to move from batch, VBS to PowerShell for their scripts. Though there's still a lot of stuff written in .vbs. If I ever move higher, I wouldn't mind having to do all these .vbs as PowerShell scripts to practice, it would be awesome :)

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As long at there is a Win32, there is the capability to run DOS programs.

If it is Win64, there are DOS Emulators that will run the DOS program under Win64 such as D-Fend Reloaded and DOSbox.

Just like CP/M has not gone away, MS/PC/DR/FREE-DOS won't really go away.  Just relegated to niche applications.

 

Edited by David H. Lipman
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Using a DOS emulator to try and use command prompt commands could be dangerous. Especially if they remove integration which they may very well do.

Powershell scripting isn't so bad. I've been converting a couple of my often used batches and testing them. It's pretty easy so far.

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On 12/7/2016 at 8:30 PM, Aura said:

Can't wait to see all the malware relying on cmd.exe getting broke :P Though a lot of them switched to PowerShell now, so we'll just continue to see a rise in PowerShell-based malware.

Indeed.  PS-based malware is already a lto harder to tame because more than a small percentage of techies out there who can handle DOS-based commands are still far behind when it comes ot PS.

On 12/7/2016 at 8:34 PM, AlexSmith said:

Man I love PowerShell. You can do some really epic stuff with it. It's a big initial learning curve if you have been used to utilizing Command Prompt for stuff, but it's an investment that pays off in the end.

I haven't really made the switch yet, other than here and there.  I need to start.

On 12/7/2016 at 8:40 PM, Aura said:

Most of our Sysadmins at work have been told to move from batch, VBS to PowerShell for their scripts. Though there's still a lot of stuff written in .vbs. If I ever move higher, I wouldn't mind having to do all these .vbs as PowerShell scripts to practice, it would be awesome :)

That is a great idea.  I tihnk I'll start with looking at my own personal scripts and batch files and attempt converting them, as a good way to really delve into PS and its capabilities.

On 12/7/2016 at 9:18 PM, Tarun said:

This is something that has been ten years in the making. Now it's almost here, looking forward to this.

Lol.  Yeah, the deathknolls were struck as soon as we saw waht PS was and saw it in action.  Hard to believe it's coming to a close.

On 12/7/2016 at 9:19 PM, Firefox said:

I have been around for a long time and use/used MS DOS for a long time... from when DOS was back to version 3.x.  Not gonna lie, I am gonna miss that bugger...

I started with DOS 2.11, although it wasn't MS, but Tandy, IIRC.  I might even still ahve the diskette lying around in an archive.

I quickly graduated to MS-DOS 3.0, then 3.1, then 3.2.

I still ahve a variety of DOS 6.x boot disks on my computer....

On 12/7/2016 at 10:09 PM, gonzo said:

You might try typing some DOS commands into PS and see what happens.

That works sometimes, but most times it (in the past) just generates an error for me.

On 12/8/2016 at 11:00 AM, David H. Lipman said:

As long at there is a Win32, there is the capability to run DOS programs.

If it is Win64, there are DOS Emulators that will run the DOS program under Win64 such as D-Fend Reloaded and DOSbox.

Just like CP/M has not gone away, MS/PC/DR/FREE-DOS won't really go away.  Just relegated to niche applications.

 

So true.  MS might stop bundling it with Windows OSs, but someone somewhere will keep a version of the command interpreter around.

1 hour ago, Tarun said:

Using a DOS emulator to try and use command prompt commands could be dangerous. Especially if they remove integration which they may very well do.

Powershell scripting isn't so bad. I've been converting a couple of my often used batches and testing them. It's pretty easy so far.

Even with segregation of DOS nad WIndows, there will be a way, albeit a very liited way, to still run commands and scripts through DOS emulators.  The scope of such commands will continue to shrink, however, especially after segregation and removal of DOS from Windows.  That is for sure.

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