Why did MS end DOS?

[TSE]

I've always wondered, why did Microsoft end .DOS and start building their operating systems on the .NT kernel? Was the .DOS kernel bad or something? Was it not customizable enough?

And also, when Windows ME and Windows 2000 were co-existing with each other, what was Microsofts original intention for the future? If ME didn't suck so bad, would they have continued offering .DOS operating systems for consumers and .NT operating systems for professionals?

 

[dukebound85]

for the same reason as why apple abandoned os 9 for osx

tech progresses

 

[MTI]

I wonder if MS's decision was based on an economic decision to pursue the business license market more than the consumer market in operating systems.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I've always wondered, why did Microsoft end .DOS and start building their operating systems on the .NT kernel? Was the .DOS kernel bad or something? Was it not customizable enough?

And also, when Windows ME and Windows 2000 were co-existing with each other, what was Microsofts original intention for the future? If ME didn't suck so bad, would they have continued offering .DOS operating systems for consumers and .NT operating systems for professionals?

ME from what I understand by the end was not to bad but in many ways ME we designed to take heat a lot like Vista did in switching over to teh NT kernel.

Problem with DOS is it is very limited on what it would could do and required some pretty massive work arounds for windows 9.x to run. Those work around made it very unstable. DOS is a very stable OS but windows being built on top of with work around killed how stable it was.

 

[maflynn]

Simple, there was too many constraints in trying to extend the OS. DOS was designed and implemented before networks became ubiquitous, 640kb of memory was a lot and 10 megabyte hard drives were the new thing.

The NT kernel was designed for the future (at least the future as MS saw it) and it threw off all of the limitations that DOS had fostered on the users and developers.

Just as Apple's classic OS was unable to handle the demands of the modern hardware and needs of users, so too DOS was unable to truly leverage the machines that had more memory and processing power, including the need to multitask.

 

[Consultant]

How Windows NT came to being
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2009/07/30/readers-write-how-microsoft-got-windows-nt/