Originally launched in 1981, Microsoft’s Disk Operating System, or MS-DOS, was once one of the most powerful and flexible operating systems on the planet. It laid the groundwork for Microsoft, which would eventually build on DOS with its now dominant Windows series of operating systems.
Between the early 80s and the mid-90s, DOS was the main platform on which IBM PCs (then extremely popular) were built. Though Windows usurped DOS, the system would continue to be supported officially up until 2006, when it was given a much-deserved retirement. Enter FreeDOS, a free alternative used to maintain support for DOS machines, now updated to version 1.4.
What’s the Point?
The basic idea of FreeDOS is to support software that would otherwise go obsolete or need to be updated. A prime example of this outside of DOS is seen at online casinos, like the Slingo games at Paddy’s. The software of these titles like Santa King and Book of Slingo was once based on a platform called Flash. When Flash became obsolete, online casino providers had to reprogram all of their titles to run on HTML5, still used to this day. This was a laborious process, but thanks to how small and efficient online casino games are, it was still possible.
The issue with DOS is that, despite being more than 40 years old, there are still legacy systems which rely on the ageing operating system. These can be tied with enormous amounts of sensitive information, where the cost of updates introducing new bugs is too high to be risked. As noted by Ars Technica, some of America’s key pharmacy systems were still running on DOS even in 2014. Though most companies don’t try to advertise they run on DOS for security reasons, there are still many out there that don’t intend to change.
What is FreeDOS Exactly?
Just like it sounds, FreeDOS is a free modern update to classic DOS features. For a start, this makes DOS able to run on modern hardware, so users don’t have to rely on dying technology to keep legacy software active. FreeDOS is also open source, so it can be worked on by the community that maintains its active codebase.
FreeDOS essentially maintains the core features of DOS over as many machines and generations as possible. It’s offered in a small file size that fits on old floppy disks and updates classic DOS tools to work with technology that didn’t exist when the operating system was first released.
For most people, FreeDOS is more of a curiosity than anything, though it can still be a useful tool for fans of classic computer preservation. For the rest of us, FreeDOS is a community-developed tool that helps some of the key computer systems our governments rely on stay active and reliable.
As for the future, the systems which rely on FreeDOS will likely continue to do so in the decades to come. As the saying goes, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so unless new regulations force updates, this platform and all its old software will keep running well into the future.
