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    Posted 01/10/99 1:00pm by John                                  [go1]
    Lettice

    DOS alive and not very well hidden            -----------------------------------------
    in Millennium beta                                          [Story Index]
                                                  -----------------------------------------
    It now seems pretty clearly                                  [bootnotes ]
    established that Microsoft will not                   Bootnotes: Industry Gossip
    be removing DOS from Millennium,
    but early reports form people                       [The Register Bulletin Board]
    who've seen Beta 1, which went out                   The Register Bulletin Board
    this week, indicate that the
    attempts to hide Dos instead are at                  Search and view the Old Site
    best perfunctory.
                                                              Microsoft on trial
    Getting rid of DOS no doubt remains
    on the MS wishlist, because it                         Links to Software Sites
    would make PCs easier to use and
    more reliable, but as far as                  -----------------------------------------
    Millennium is concerned it looks         If you want daily updates on news, enter your email
    like wishing and doing are two            address below, then click the 'Join List' button.
    different things. For Beta 1                                    [Image]
    Microsoft has removed the exit to
    Dos option from the shutdown menu,                       Powered by ListBot
    but according to one tester, "the
    Bootgui= option is still in the
    msdos.sys file; the default is '1'
    which boots to full blown Windows,
    and if '0' is used, the computer
    boots to DOS 7.1."

    The option to press F8 for boot
    options is also still there.
    Microsoft might remove this later,
    but as not many inexperienced users
    know about it, the company may
    reckon it isn't likely to cause
    much trouble.

    But if that's the case, Microsoft
    is really just putting off the day
    when it has to bite the bullet.
    This may come with Neptune, but
    that's a 2001 product at best,
    leaving a big hole between the
    product with DOS shoved under some
    camouflage netting and the one with
    no DOS at all.

    So, referring back to the PC2001
    system design guide issued earlier
    this year we have a suggestion.
    PC2001 says that "Microsoft is
    investigating the development of
    non-retail versions of Windows 98
    and Windows 2000 that will support
    PC systems that do not use legacy
    components such as Super I/O, the
    8042 controller, and MS-DOS."
    Presuming that Microsoft is still
    investigating this, but won't
    exactly be doing it in Millennium,
    then there's the time, and probably
    the demand, for another rev between
    Millennium and Neptune.

    Gratuitous Register believe it or
    not: PC2001 is a joint effort
    between Microsoft and Intel, and
    was published around about the same
    time as Microsoft was sending out
    the first Millennium pre-beta code.
    At that time, brave and ambitious
    things were being said by Microsoft
    about Millennium as a major effort
    in the consumer OS market and a key
    plank of EasyPC. Subsequently,
    things seem to have gone into rapid
    reverse, with Millennium earlier
    this week being described as no big
    deal, maybe just a service release.
    Well folks, go back to PC2001, and
    remember this stuff was written
    when Millennium was being hyped as
    a big deal: "Supporting system
    features being proposed for the
    next OEM service release of Windows
    98 (Windows 'Millennium')... Ahem.
    

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