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DOS wasn't normally used with a network. No network = far less need for security.
by Dwedit 6mo ago
DOS wasn't normally used with a network. No network = far less need for security.
- gus_massa 6mo agoBut you were sharing floppy disk all time, it was sneakernetted.
- jandrese 6mo agoAnd boot sector viruses were a plague in the DOS era, especially for computer labs. It only took one person bringing in an infected disk before the whole thing was a vector for Stoned Empire Monkey or something.
- Andrex 6mo agoExcept networkization was inevitable and I'm sure the smart people in the room saw it coming.
- GuB-42 6mo agoFor what I remember, networkization with DOS was a PITA so set up. You didn't have a convenient system API with sockets. You had to mess with interrupts, registers, etc... Your app had to be programmed for your specific hardware, and networking looked more like talking to serial ports than anything else. Remember that DOS is single process, it is not as if you could run a service just like that. You could mess with interrupt handlers, but you had to do the scheduling yourself, and make sure your code is small, because shockingly, 640k may not be enough for everyone. MS-DOS simply wasn't a good choice for networking, and not just because of the lack of security. In fact, it could turn out to be more secure than modern systems because of the limited attack surface. No crazy framework stacks here, just your code and the network card.
- jorgeortiz85 6mo agoGood thing OpenClaw never needs to be used with a network. Oh, wait…
- organsnyder 6mo agoHome computers weren't normally networked, but enterprise computers (such as the Walmart example given) absolutely were.
- happyopossum 6mo agoThey weren’t connected to the internet though, and there weren’t state sponsored hackers on the other side of the world that could access them.
- icedchai 6mo agoMany enterprise computers were connected to phone lines. A few were connected to global X.25 networks like Telenet/Tymnet. Some were even on the early Internet. True, they were unlikely to be DOS systems, but plenty of DOS systems also doubled as terminals.
- thesz 6mo agoIs it possible to get hacked through US Robotics Courier?..
- HoldOnAMinute 6mo agoPeople had morals back then... you could trust good people to do the right thing.
- CodeWriter23 6mo agoIncorrect. See also: NetWare, Stoned.
- luxuryballs 6mo agoLikewise for OpenClaw if you never give it anything sensitive it can have plenty of network, keep any work backed up and if anything happens you just flash a new drive. The trick with computer security is not putting secrets on the computer to begin with.