Editing DR-DOS (section)

==={{anchor|Novell DOS|7|Multi}}Novell DOS 7 / Contribution by Novell===
[[File:Novell DOS 7 screenshot.png|alt=A screenshot of Novell DOS 7|thumb|A typical command line in Novell DOS 7]]
'''Novell DOS''' was [[Novell]] Corporation's name for DR&nbsp;DOS during the period when Novell sold DR&nbsp;DOS, after the acquisition of Digital Research in 1991.<ref name="sdtimes novell v microsoft"/><ref name="pcmag novell dos"/><ref name="Scott_1991_Merger"/><ref name="BW_1991"/><ref name="Allchin_1992"/> Regarding features and performance, it was typically at least one release ahead of MS-DOS.<ref name="nytimes rivals boost"/> In 1993, [[PC&nbsp;DOS 6.1]], [[MS-DOS 6.2]] and [[PC&nbsp;DOS 6.3]] were trumped by Novell's {{nowrap|DOS 7}}.<ref name="extremetech msdos 30"/>

Novell CEO [[Robert J. Frankenberg]]'s strategy included "major trimming", selling off products like transactional database [[Btrieve]] and killing others such as Novell DOS and [[WordPerfect]]'s multimedia Main Street children's titles.<ref name="nytimes readies response"/> Novell licensed technology from [[Stac Electronics]] for use in Novell DOS and its [[network operating system]] [[NetWare]].<ref name="nytimes big losers"/><ref name="Sheesley_2008"/> Novell sold the product line off to [[Caldera (company)|Caldera]] on July 23, 1996, after it approached Novell looking for a DOS operating system to bundle with its [[OpenLinux]] distribution.<ref name="Caldera_1996_Suit"/>

[[Marc Perkel]] claimed to have had inspired Novell in February 1991 to buy Digital Research and develop something he envisioned as "NovOS".<ref name="Perkel_1991_NovOS"/> Novell had actually bought Digital Research in July 1991 with a view to using DR's product line as a lever in their comprehensive strategy to break the Microsoft monopoly. (This was part of a massive and ultimately disastrous spending spree for Novell: they bought [[WordPerfect]] Corporation at about the same time, some of [[Borland]]'s products, and invested heavily in [[Unix]] as well.) The planned "DR&nbsp;DOS 7.0", internally named "Panther", intended to trump Microsoft's troubled MS-DOS 6.0, was repeatedly delayed, while Novell was working on an optionally loadable Unix-like multi-user security extension (with, if loaded, file commands like [[BACKUP (DOS command)|BACKUP]], [[DELPURGE]], [[MOVE (DOS command)|MOVE]], [[TOUCH (DOS command)|TOUCH]], [[TREE (DOS command)|TREE]], [[UNDELETE (DOS command)|UNDELETE]], [[XATTRIB]], [[XCOPY (DOS command)|XCOPY]], [[XDEL]] and [[XDIR]] supporting an otherwise disabled /U:name command line option to select specific users or groups,<ref name="Paul_1997_NWDOSTIP"/> compatible with Multiuser DOS) and two new graphical user interfaces ([[ViewMAX 3]], a derivative of GEM, and "[[Star Trek project|Star Trek]]", a true port of Apple's [[System 7|System 7.1]] to run under the new DR&nbsp;DOS multitasker named "Vladivar").

When DR&nbsp;DOS eventually arrived in December 1993 (with localized versions released in March 1994), renamed Novell DOS 7 (a.k.a. "NWDOS"), and without these three components, it was a disappointment to some. It was larger and lacked some finishing touches,<ref name="Goodman_1994"/> but was nevertheless seen as best DOS by many industry experts.<ref name="Schneider_1994"/>

In Germany, Novell DOS 7 was aggressively marketed with the slogan "{{lang|de|Trau keinem DOS unter 7}}" (''Don't trust any DOS below 7'') in the press and with free demo floppies in computer magazines.<ref name="ASW_1994_Novell_DOS_7"/><ref name="Hill_1994_Interview"/><ref name="Schneider_1994"/> The campaign aimed at 20% of the DOS market and resulted in about 1.5 million copies sold until February 1994 and more than 3000 dealers interested to carry the product.<ref name="ASW_1994_Novell_DOS_7"/><ref name="Hill_1994_Interview"/> Novell DOS 7 was available through various OEMs, a dedicated mail order shop and authorized dealers.<ref name="ASW_1994_Novell_DOS_7"/>

A major functional addition was Novell's second attempt at a peer-to-peer networking system, [[Personal NetWare]] (PNW).<ref group="nb" name="NB_Remote-copy"/> This was better than its predecessor, [[NetWare Lite]] (NWL), but it was incompatible with Microsoft's networking system, now growing popular with support in [[Windows for Workgroups]], [[OS/2]], and [[Windows NT]]. A considerable amount of manual configuration was needed to get both to co-exist on the same PC, and Personal NetWare never achieved much success.

Since Novell DOS 7 implemented the DOSMGR API and internal data structures had been updated, its BDOS 7.2 kernel could report with a DOS version of 6.0 and OEM ID "IBM" without risking compatibility problems with Windows. Most tools would report this as "PC&nbsp;DOS 6.1", because IBM PC&nbsp;DOS 6.1 also reported as DOS 6.0 to applications.

Novell DOS 7 introduced much advanced memory management including new support for DPMI ([[DOS Protected Mode Interface]]) and DPMS ([[DOS Protected Mode Services]]) as well as more flexible loadhigh options.<ref name="Schneider_1994"/> It also introduced support for "true" pre-emptive multitasking<ref name="Schneider_1994"/> of multiple DOS applications in [[virtual DOS machine]]s (VDM), a component originally named MultiMAX. This was similar to Multiuser DOS, but now on the basis of a natively DOS compatible environment, similar to Windows 386 Enhanced Mode, but without a GUI. By default, the bundled TASKMGR would behave similar to the former DR&nbsp;DOS 6.0 TASKMAX. However, if [[EMM386]] was loaded with the option /MULTI, EMM386 would load a natively 32-bit 386 Protected Mode operating system core providing API support for pre-emptive multitasking, multi-threading, hardware virtualization and domain management of virtual DOS machines. This API could be used by DR&nbsp;DOS-aware applications. If TASKMGR was run later on, it would use this API to instance the current 16-bit DOS system environment, create virtual DOS machines and run applications in them instead of using its own Real Mode task-switcher support. The multitasker was compatible with Windows, so that tasks started before launching Windows could be seen as tasks under Windows as well.

Novell DOS 7 and Personal NetWare 1.0 also shipped with [[NetWars]], a network-enabled 3D [[arcade game]].

Novell DOS 7 and Personal NetWare required several bug-fix releases (D70xyy with x=language, yy=number) and were not completely stable when the next development occurred. With beta versions of Microsoft's "[[Chicago (Microsoft)|Chicago]]" (what would later become Windows 95) in sight, Novell wound down further development on Novell DOS 7 in September 1994<ref name="Caldera_1996_Suit"/> and stopped maintenance in January 1996 after more than 15 updates.