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A Boxfull of DOS's.

DOSBox is a well known name so I think unless there's a real reason to change, I think it should be kept as is. True that it may not reflect the application scope (i.e. the ability to run Windows 3.1 for example) but I think those that do [this] are probably in the minority and changing the name for the minority seems a big step for little gain?!

> True that it may not reflect the application scope

I'd say it doesn't reflect the game scope 😉

If we need to avoid confusion with the MS-DOS Box of Windows,

Someday the DOSBox have a big improvement, we can change name to DOSBox Pro.

(maybe when 05/2009 0.73 Upcoming release)

"Pro" implies a paid for product.....

People can just send their money to me. I will spend them wisely.

If so, DOSBox Plus or DOSBox+ is better than DO$Box Pro.. 😉

(Although I remember COMODO Firewall pro is freeware...)

I still think DOSBox is wholly appropriate since it emulates not only old PCs but also DOS itself. If they forced you to install real DOS or made it simulate Windows (instead of making you install real Windows) then maybe a name change would be due.

I just don't see any reason to change it at all. It's usually a bad decision to change a name so late into the game...

Dominus wrote:

Seriously, I think you can't change the name so late in the game anymore (unless someone pops up and has the name licensed for his database program or similar for ages...).

Then DoxBox should be called ... FireBird 😜

sky66 wrote:

If so, DOSBox Plus or DOSBox+ is better than DO$Box Pro.. :Wink:

In that case, I think DosBox++ or even ++DosBox would be even better. 😀

A long, long time ago there was a project similar to DOSBox that called itself Dodge, but it never really got off the ground.

Consider that MS-DOS had its roots in something called QDOS, for Quick and Dirty Operating System. Thus, I suggest NSQAD (pronounced "En-Scad"), for Not So Quick and Dirty.

But I suggest that only in jest; clearly it would be best to stick with the familiar name.

DOSBox and nothing else. Who cares about some "DOS Emu", who even heard of something by that name, whatever it is?

DOSBox is the proper name and the right name. Especially if the supposed new name came from one of those awful alternatives proposed in this thread... GAME... CLI?!? What the...! Sounds like some horrible object from a sex shop.

I just installed and have starting using DOSBox. When I got some old DOS games and wanted to run it. I was pointed to find out about DOSBox.

I immediately found it and this forum link.

From someone who has just recently built his first PC and just started wanting to learn about things like this I had absolutely no problems finding DOSBox.

That's $0.02 from a new guy on the block who still doesn't know anything.

Determining a name change is reserved for the experts, I just wanted to let you know I had no trouble finding it, and then getting help installing it.

I am just glad it exists and this place here is a place for me to learn.

The only name that properly describes DOSBox is DOSBox. That name has a reputation for running DOS games well on modern hardware and operating systems. Change the name and that reputation will count for nothing.

Whilst DOS was originally created to run on a PC, these days it runs on far more than that. I recently saw a small building controller (about the size of a double cassette) that ran a embedded version of DOS as its operating system. For this unit DOS was the ideal choice. Its a simple controller with no display, no keyboard and no mouse. All input and output on the unit goes via a serial port or IP connection. It is programmed using an application running on a separate PC, but otherwise operates without user intervention. What better than a simple and stable operating system like DOS, especially as DOS requires only a cheap, simple and fairly slow processor to run? In theory there is no reason why the application running in this controller couldn't run in DOSBox (except perhaps for the IP, http & ftp functions), although there wouldn't be much point. All it shows is that DOS, and therefore DOSBox , isn't really restricted to x86 PCs.

Right at the beginning it was said the change was being considered because DOSBox was doing more than the name suggests. I am struggling to see what it does that isn't running an application inside a DOS emulator. Some might say running Windows in DOSBox, but to me that doesn't count. Windows up to and including WFW3.11 isn't an operating system. Its actually a graphical front end for DOS and therefore is a DOS application. Even Win95/98/ME aren't true operating systems, they're still applications running on DOS. True, they bypass DOS to access most of the hardware once up and running, but that is no different to many older DOS applications that directly accessed the hardware instead of going via DOS. So, from my perspective, DOSBox is still a DOS emulator running an application even when that application is something like WFW3.11.

As has been said, name changes for a mature product are a bad idea. Here in the UK a breakfast cereal manufacturer decided to change the name of one of its products to match the name used in most of the rest of the world. Due to pressure from cereal buyers, that company held a vote where the consumer got to choose between the new and old names. The old name won hands down, and the cereal manufacturer chaged the name back. Other companies have changed product names and seen sales plummit. The latest big name change here in the UK is an insurance company. They are taking the change so seriously they've had a three month ad campaign on TV and radio to get everyone used to the name change and have employed a lot of big names to advertise the change including Alice Cooper, Ringo Star and Bruce Willis (all of whom changed their own names). Personally I always get suspicious about name changes and tend to think the worst, that is the old name has a bad reputation and the change of name is to try and leave that reputation behind. After all, if the name has a good reputation, why change it?

Great Points you make about your perspective on branding. Not just name changing, but branding.

Anyway, I was browsing some sites that give reviews, previews, etc for DOS games and almost all of them reference "DOSBox" by name as the recommended emulator to use. I am guessing there are others, but it seems that the name DOSBox is looked at as reliable and possessing great support and user friendliness.

I don't really know if any of that is true since this is my first go-around, but that's just what it seems like other peoples view of DOSBox is.

I still say leave it alone.

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