Before the now-promised MS-DOS 6.0 with Windows integrated arrives on the scene (CI No 1,494), there is the very long-awaited MS-DOS 5.0 to look forward to – and it could prove bad news for the likes of Symantec Corp’s Peter Norton Computing according to Computer Reseller News. Microsoft Corp told the paper that as well as vastly improving use of memory by loading parts of the operating system into high memory between 640Kb and 1Mb to leave up to 624Kb of memory free for network and device drivers and applications, it will come with a long list of utilities, including Recover to restore deleted files, and Unformat, which puts the hard disk back the way it was before you accidentally reformatted it when all you wanted to do was initialise a floppy. As important for users is likely to be the installation procedure – simplified in the same way that it has been in Windows 3.0. It also has a chameleon feature that makes it look like earlier releases for programs that run with only one MS-DOS release. The new MS-DOS 5.0 is likely to hit the streets early next year.
