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By Tim Fisher, About.com Guide to PC Support

The Command Prompt is Not MS-DOS

Monday June 29, 2009
The Command Prompt is not DOS. I repeat, the Command Prompt is not DOS.

I have to say, I've been guilty of calling it what it is not as well. I chalk it up to habit - the Windows Command Prompt looks a LOT and acts a LOT like MS-DOS did.

But it's not DOS.

The Command Prompt is just a command line interpreter program - an application in and of itself. It's available in all Windows versions since NT - including the popular Windows XP, Windows Vista, and even Windows 7.

Windows does not operate within MS-DOS because MS-DOS no longer exists in these versions of Windows.

So there's my Monday rant! You can read more about Command Prompt here.
Comments
July 14, 2009 at 7:27 pm
(1) saint says:

are you saying MS DOS is not needed?

July 15, 2009 at 7:12 am
(2) Tim Fisher says:

I’m saying MS DOS does not EXIST after Windows 98. I’m saying that the Command Prompt is an application in and of itself and is not the old MS DOS operating system that people once used, even though it looks a lot like it.

Command Prompt is certainly needed if you’re someone that uses commands to do things.

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