Author: Tim Mirabile
Date: 15:03:11 11/24/98
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There is nothing written in stone that says DOS programs must look bad. If you look at older versions of Partition Magic, it runs in DOS mode but look exactly like a Windows 95 program. Also, Nimzo 3.5 was a DOS program which looked just like Windows 3.1 - you could even minimize it and get a fake "desktop". I think the main features I miss in DOS programs are: - lack of (graphic) printer support - lack of multitasking - no support for different screen resolutions (although this is possible) On November 24, 1998 at 02:32:34, Bruce Moreland wrote: >On November 24, 1998 at 00:35:54, Mig wrote: > >>While trying out different programs to get an overview for an article on >>computer chess for a newspaper I found several popular programs are still using >>DOS and still look as ugly as they did 15 years ago. >> >>In particular I was appalled by Rebel 10, one of the top programs out there by >>general consent. After using ChessBase 7.0 and relatives for so long I couldn't >>believe my eyes. The board and pieces in Rebel 10 look worse than some of the >>klugy Java boards used for on-line viewing! (Maybe the guy's settings were >>wrong? He didn't think so.) >> >>I'm no fan of fancy 3-D boards or medieval pieces, etc., but really, I'm sure >>they could do better than that. Unless the program in question is dramatically >>stronger than the competition to compensate (it's not) I can't imagine using >>something that ugly regularly. (Not that I would anyway due to the lack of >>multi-tasking.) >> >>How big of a factor is this considered to be in the marketplace? Beauty is only >>skin deep, but there should be a minimum! > >Right now anybody who is still programming for DOS is flying in an airplane >that's in a steep dive. Everything is fine for now, people are comfortable, the >plane is still in the air, and it's actually going pretty fast, but the >situation is not tenable in the long term and many of the passengers are >starting to figure this out. > >I have been programming Windows applications since 1988, for the kind of stuff >we are doing it has always made sense, probably even then. > >Someone might score with a Linux app, and there will always be a few Mac users, >but Windows is the wave of the present. > >bruce
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