Works Like You Do

Remember DOS? Before Windows there was DOS. MSDOS actually. Well, I have one program that I have used for almost 20 years and it only runs in DOS. In Windows, it works OK although it can no longer print. The work-around is to save the text files and import them into Word and then I can print. So, I loaded it up in Parallels to see how it worked. Most things have worked pretty well. This one didn’t. Amazingly, it loads and operates. Unfortunately, I have no control over the display and it runs in a very small window under Parallels. It’s close to unusable but I guess it does put to rest the claim that MACs have challenges with being backward compatible. I have to admit that a MAC that can run a 20 year old DOS program is pretty impressive.

I also learned that you can use the Option key if you need to use the F9 above keys. When you hit these, even in full screen mode, it reverts to the Finder commands. By hitting Option first, they act like Windows (or DOS) keys within your program. Score another one for testing intead of researching!