Where can I buy 6000 MS DOS licenses inexpensively (like used bulk
licenses for $5 each)?

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Request for Question Clarification by mathtalk-ga on 22 Mar 2003 06:32 PST

Hi, keica-ga:

Which version of MS-DOS are you interested in?  Would an inexpensive
(possibly free) replacement operating system (clone) be of interest?

regards, mathtalk-ga

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Clarification of Question by keica-ga on 22 Mar 2003 12:35 PST

Needs to be MS, not a clone.  6.x would be best but 5.x is fine too.

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Clarification of Question by keica-ga on 25 Mar 2003 18:51 PST

Regarding why MSFT version is needed -- we have a hardware device that
uses DOS and we're potentially going to do another run.  It would be
more work to burn in and test an alternative OS than to just keep
using MS.

I've searched for a couple of hours and I found this for you
http://www.weirdstuff.com/commerce/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=1092
that one is $5
if that doesnt work for you there
http://store.yahoo.com/swdeals/samsungdos50.html
hope this helps you out,
-Jeremy

Wow - thanks.  Didn't really expect you to search a couple hours for a
$5 question, but I appreciate it!  It looks like you found a $15 full
license and a $5 upgrade license.  These will do if its the best out
there.  In an ideal world I'd be interested in a $5 full license.  I
was thinking maybe there was someplace that people sold these used in
volume, like when a corporation upgrades from one OS to another, is
there some used market for the old ones?

Hi, keica-ga:

I realize you are looking for MS-DOS, but you might be interested to
know about DR-DOS, formerly developed and owned by Digital Research
and now by DeviceLogics.  Go here and click on Community Login at
upper right to reach the download section:

http://www.drdos.com/

Some other open source alternatives are out there.  I'd point out that
Y2K compliance would have to be a major consideration for any serious
business applications to run on a DOS platform.  MS-DOS won't have
this.

regards, mathtalk

if you can explain why you need the original, it might be helpful; you
may think clones are not a valid solution but not have access to some
information that would be helpful to you.

In other words, if you can give us more information, we may be able to
help you more.

I could find 1500-2000 pieces of MS-DOS 6.22 licenses for $19.75 each.

www.freedos.org  <-- ITS FREE!

Hi, keica-ga:

Conservatively estimating a savings of $5 per license times 1,000
pieces, one would think that it would be worth your while to download
one or the other of the free clones that have been suggested and see
if in fact they work "out of the box."  Burn in and testing ought not
be prohibitively expensive, as these should be highly automated
procedures if you are supporting that volume of turnkey systems.

I recommend you try the clones.  They have a reputation for being
highly compatible with low level I/O port applications in MS-DOS. 
It's not like we were suggesting a port to Linux (although that would
be attractive to most vendors in and of itself).  The future of 16-bit
DOS applications lies with these clones, so consider if you must
amortizing the necessary day or two of testing over the future
lifetime of your product.

I believe the difficulty with culling DOS licenses from companies
disposing of older equipment is that in most cases the hardware was
purchased with an OEM version of MS-DOS and this in turn was "applied"
towards an upgrade to a version of Windows at some point in the past;
the Windows licenses would then (at a large firm) have been
transferred to newer hardware.  So there would not be as many DOS
licenses left with the discarded hardware as you expected.

regards, mathtalk