Digital Research Inc may produce a better operating system than Microsoft Corp while retaining full compatibility with MS-DOS, but until now its have gone largely unnoticed outside the UK: the company’s fortunes could however start to improve now that Taiwanese clonemakers are actively scouting around for a cheaper alternative to MS-DOS to bundle with their machines, and have lighted on DOS Plus – better than MS-DOS 3.3 as well as cheaper, they reckon – and may well go with the product once they are satisfied on all the compatibility issues; Acer is among the firms evaluatiing DOS Plus and the thinking is that as Taiwan exported 1m micros in 1987, a third of them needing MS-DOS licences, an operating system only $10 a time cheaper would still save the companies a cool $3.3m.
