From: jcmorris@mwunix.mitre.org (Joe Morris)
Subject: Re: DOS 6 Beta Looks for OS/2!!!!!!!!
Organization: The MITRE Corporation
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 15:07:46 GMT

philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara) writes:

>In article <1993Jan2.024108.2313@ccsvax.sfasu.edu> z_kupkams@ccsvax.sfasu.edu writes:

>>>>- OS/2 Detected! Due to the size of OS/2 you may wish to delete your OS/2 
>>>>files before installing DOS 6.0 -

>>>      Interesting.  What is the problem with that?  If there was a
>>> similar message that said "Autocad detected.  Due to the size of
>>> Autocad you may wish to delete your Autocad files before installing
>>> DOS 6.0", whould that be bad too?

>>	The Problem is simple. There is no need for such a message. If there
>>was insufficient disk space, a simple "Insufficient Disk Space" would be
>>enough. Unless of course you wanted to to spread FUD 

>    Point A:  We have no idea what the actual message is.  I'll wager
>that it _isn't_ what was quote above (in fact, you admit that it's
>"paraphrased" _and_ secondhand.).  There are several good reasons why
>you wouldn't want to run the DOS 6 Beta (and note, it is a beta) and
>OS/2 on the same machine.

Hmmmm...isn't compatibility testing one of the explicit functions of the
beta programs from all vendors?  (Excluding, of course, those who believe
that their in-house testing can try *all* possible configurations.)

And does the same message appear if it detects a Windows/NT directory?

>>F-Fear- Fear that Using OS/2 and DOS on the same machine would be dangerous.

>    It is.  DOS 6 may make your FAT partitions unreadable by
>OS/2 or other operating systems.

If this is the case, why not say so?  Assuming that the paraphrase of the
message is reasonably accurate, it delivers the flavor of "OS/2 takes up
a lot of room on your disk, so you may want to consider removing it."  
There is no suggestion in the (paraphrased) message that there is a 
compatibility question which may force you to abandon OS/2.

Numerous publications (such as PC Leak) have reported that the next release
of DOS includes a disk-compression feature, but I would be *very* surprised
if it is automatically installed.  You don't have to assume the presence
of OS/2 for compressed data to be a problem: what about all the users
running various flavors of the NT beta versions which Microsoft has
sprinkled all over the world?  Or even the beta testers who may need
to limit their exposure to the bugs which are inevitably a part of any
beta (or production :-(  ) release of a program?

>>Uncertainty - Make the User uncertain about using DOS and OS/2 at the same
>>time.

>   As well they should be.  It is a beta product, after all.

Isn't this equally applicable to using the beta DOS 6 on a machine currently
running DOS 5 if you job depends on getting production work out of the
system?

>>	Yes Why???? Why even have such a message at all????
>>	ANSWER: FUD

>    Answer:  There are possible incompatibilities between DOS 6
>and OS/2.  This is not FUD - it's a simple fact.

Again, the message as reported in the posting which started this thread
says nothing about incompatibility, only about disk space utilization.

>    Does anyone have the _real_ message?  I suspect that it says
>nothing like what's written above.

If they do, I suspect that they should keep it to themselves until the
DOS 6 code is released for public sale.  The nondisclosure restrictions
in the beta agreements are rather specific.

Joe Morris