MS-DOS as everybody knows it is one considered to be one of the most primitive operating systems, mankind has ever seen. But to my knowledge, I have till date not seen a better operating system (IBM PC Clones only), which is more stable than DOS.
Please may counter my point saying that it didn’t have a GUI, and we had to remember all the commands. Today, we are in an environment where people don’t know what a command line parameter is. Microsoft almost thought command prompt was unnecessary and came out with an operating system without a command prompt and called it the Windows Millenium Edition.
To me, DOS is more control, more graphics inclination and more stability. We never used to see so many programs hanging in the memory. Yeah, it didn’t have a Multi-tasking, but atleast whatever single task it is supposed to do, was done properly. A Windows 3.1 with a DOS combination, was ruling the world once. It was the golden era of PC computing, and now the world has turned its back to DOS.
I would say, that in today’s world, you don’t need DOS, but atleast people should know of its existence and the usage of it, and know how to use it when in trouble. Ask any network administrator if he will throw DOS away. No, he cannot. The basic ping command, to ping your IP address works on DOS and only on DOS.