DR-DOS
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 47 of 87 operating systems by recommenders
People recommend DR-DOS as a capable alternative that is objectively better than MS-DOS. Critics mostly cite occasional compatibility hiccups and a license limited to educational and evaluation use.
People recommend DR-DOS as a capable alternative that is objectively better than MS-DOS. Critics mostly cite occasional compatibility hiccups and a license limited to educational and evaluation use.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 79%
Recommended in 6 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 6 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Better than MS-DOS
“DR-DOS was more than alright, if Microsoft hadn't smothered it the computing world would look very very different today”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “What Happened to Gem?” “DR-DOS and Concurrent DOS seem, at least in a lot of ways, objectively better than MS-DOS”
Comment from 25 Mar 2026 in “What Happened to Gem?” “still superior to MS-DOS though”
Comment from 3 Aug 2026 in “CP/M-386 – CP/M for 386 protected mode, derived from CP/M‑68K”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Occasional compatibility hiccups
“Much as I loved DR-DOS, it did have occasional compatibility hiccups.”
Comment from 3 Aug 2026 in “CP/M-386 – CP/M for 386 protected mode, derived from CP/M‑68K” “it did have occasional compatibility hiccups”
Comment from 3 Aug 2026 in “CP/M-386 – CP/M for 386 protected mode, derived from CP/M‑68K” Blocks Windows and competitor software
“artificially blocking the use of DR-DOS to install Windows”
Comment from 9 Sep 2026 in “DHS 'Predictive Policing' Unit Is Analyzing Americans' Financial Habits” “active sabotage of alternative software by intentionally triggering false errors if used with competitors' software”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Pion, an agent designed to run any company autonomously”
Other operating systems people recommend
The four most recommended other operating systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 87 operating systems, rankedWhat people said
16 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“The three programs come up instantly on boot in different terminate-and-stay-resident screens”
“which was relatively modern in terms of hardware support but still behind the times”
“active sabotage of alternative software by intentionally triggering false errors if used with competitors' software”
“artificially blocking the use of DR-DOS to install Windows”
“a full 386 preemptive multitasking kernel and a decent API”
“Not a fair description at all.”
“Much as I loved DR-DOS, it did have occasional compatibility hiccups.”
“it did have occasional compatibility hiccups”
“still superior to MS-DOS though”
“I saw how superior DR DOS goes down because your mom was IBM board member”
“they both seem pretty cool”
“DR-DOS and Concurrent DOS seem, at least in a lot of ways, objectively better than MS-DOS”
“DR-DOS was more than alright, if Microsoft hadn't smothered it the computing world would look very very different today”
“it was great, 7.0 seemed to be worse”
“The license only allowed free use for educational and evaluation purposes.”
“it was from the original vendor, so that was excusable, and mostly, it understood MS syntax as well”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.