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[dipo]

There are some projects who want to provide an environment where you can old dos stuff on newer windows such as xp or vista. (Such as dosbox and FreeDOS...)

Those projects are good, but them are not 100 % compatible. Until now microsoft has not released any source code from DOS 6.22 so I guess it was kinda hard for those project to reverse engineer it.

I think today there is no more source code from DOS 6.22 inside Xp or Vista (since it`s based on NT and not DOS) and if there still is it can`t be much because it`s so long ago.

Microsoft shouldn`t have economy loss if them would make DOS 6.22 legal freeware and release the source code under an Open Source license. No new software is being developed or sold for DOS. Probably also not after it become Open Source. Someone who dislikes windows or microsoft would chose linux or bsd but not DOS because it`s to long not maintained.

Releasing the source code also wouldn`t hurt and it could help those third party projects to become perfect.

I don`t want people to start begging for it or flaming or bitching or whatever. Only being serious and showing their interest in it.

How to start a serious petition?

Maybe abandonia.com with over 30.000 members could be the place to start such a petition? If 30.000 would sign it (if people from other communitys also sign it) this should be enough.

[_r.u.s.s.]

not gonna happen
(i mean microsoft making dos open source)

[dipo]

I think the motto needs to be more "don`t give up before trying".

Micosoft made some Open Source short time ago, them also promised better interop and stop fighting Free Software. Some exampels
http://www.microsoft.com/opensource/default.mspx
http://research.microsoft.com/os/singularity/
http://blogs.msdn.com/dotnetinterop/
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/s...e/default.mspx
and google for microsoft releasing source code

So imho chances are bigger then 0 % !

I would like DOS 6.22 as GPL so other projects can "copy and paste" from it.

[dosraider]

Of course there's always another side to consider:
Now when I'm installing MSDos 6.22 (or whatever MS Dos) I know what I'm getting.
If it becomes 'open source' you can be sure there will be lots of screwed up things in it.

Sad but true.

[dipo]

At no point the old version will get lost. No one will every force you to use any new version. If you want you can still stick to the old/normal one.

Nothing to be scared about.

[dosraider]

Scared? Not really, no. LMAO.

But the comp problems does not come from MS Dos, but from the games/applics devs.
Lets face it, even when we were on Dos several games/applics were bugged as hell, and now you would want to adapt MS Dos to those?

The hardiest things to code are those graph card drivers, some are pretty exotic.
Nothing to see with MS Dos itself.

And MS Dos is pretty well documented afterall.

[dipo]

MS-DOS 6.22 is more compatible then dosbox. Dosbox does not have all details of the internals of MS-DOS 6.22. Dosbox and FreeDOS could become better if them would know it.

The simple question is, is it more easy to make an emulator for an old operating system if you know it`s source code or is it harded without the source code. And does it hurt if the source code is available for reference?

I see no disadventage for normal users if the source code would be released. (Someone could argue that crackers may find new exploits but this would be kinda stupid because the OS are not supported since many years and exploits won`t get patched so or so.)

As for closed source drivers and closed source hardware sure it would be even better if them would become Open Source also. Isn`t a bad idea to expand this petition to this requirement.

Some modern graphic cards by AMD have an Open Source graphic driver and AMD also has given out internal details about the card to make this driver even better. So in case of those very old hardware it`s just a matter of asking any details which are currently now not well known.

[dosraider]

Hmmmm, maybe, some valid points you have there.

If a petition will impress MS is another question.
I doubt it.

[dipo]

A petition does not cost much money because server coast. Siging in and writing down stuff isn`t expensive. There is also no legal risk. People ask, them say yes or no or ignore it. That`s all. No curt at all.

For the site who is starting the petition it`s also a good PR. Besides that I am still meaning "try before giving up".

Some people say microsoft is evil. Microsoft is a firm who want to earn money and not a friend. But them are also not the devil. If them think it would be good PR then them are open to it. Here are a few examples where it did work:

- People started a petition that Xp reches end of life (no more security updates) soon -> now Xp is supported until 2014. (microsoft losed a bit money that way because people can save money and do not need to pay Vista, and them can buy Windows 7 then already)

- People did complain about bad interop -> microsoft helped the guys from samba (linux to windows network sharing) by giving out some documentation and samba works better now.

- People did complain that microsoft is fighting Free Software -> microsoft changed it`s policy a bit on it because them recognized that it`s better that way.

[Data]

DOSBox won't benefit from it.
After all you can boot msdos 6.22 inside it if you want.

The things that are missing are probably on purpose.
You might want to spend your time informing the people of dosbox about which games don't work instead of claiming that it isn't 100 % compatible without any proof that it has something todo with the DOS emulated by dosbox. (incase you didn't know the DOS emulation is small portion of what dosbox emulates)