CHARLES ANGELICH -> DAVID DRUMMOND wrote:

 CA>>>>> computer and will for the foreseeable future. :-)

 DD>>>> No sign of it at all on this machine - no emulation, no
 DD>>>> nothing (no diskette drive either).

 CA> Not really much of a computer then is it? ;-)

Huh? One does not need DOS or a floppy drive to have a computer.

[...]

 CA>>> Look at your wife's computer. You'll find the DOS
 CA>>> diskettes/CDs/whatever at her desk. ;-)

 DD>> No diskettes there at all (there is an XP and a Server 2003
 DD>> CD though)

 CA> If she uses XP she has floppies somewhere.

Nope - she backs up to tape, and moves files via LAN, Internet, or USB memory drive.

 CA>>> .. DOS the Ghost in the Machine!

 DD>> The point is Charles that DOS is no longer "the Ghost in
 DD>> the Machine". Many modern machines have never seen it. Very
 DD>> little will fit on a diskette any more so their use is
 DD>> becoming far less prevelant. Many new machines don't come
 DD>> with a floppy drive.

 CA> Bootable CDs, rescue disks, Partition Magic, and others
 CA> continue to use DOS

We don't have rescue disks - if the machine dies, we reinstall. We also
don't use/have Partition Magic (although I have fiddled with GNU PartEd -
which booted from a Linux/Minix floppy)

As for the Bootable CD business, I can guarantee that not all of the
bootable CDs we use have any DOS on them. I'll have to check that any have
it at all (which ones do you think boot DOS?)

 DD>> Files are moved via networks, or those little USB memory
 DD>> drive thingies.

 CA> In your world where David is 'emperor' maybe. In the rest of
 CA> the world they use whatever works and DOS just works for them.

I'm not any sort of emperor Charles, just a computer user in the 21st century.

A quick ask around finds that most of my friends no longer use floppy
disks/DOS utilities either.

(I'm suprised that you think Partition Magic is something that many people
would use, what do you do with your machines there?)

-- 

regards

David

---