Still using a DOS based program? You are not alone. Some businesses and companies today are still using DOS based programs because it is not easy to migrate a program that's been in use for 20 years into a Windows based program.
There are a lot of program out there in the internet to choose from but what keeping companies and businesses to migrate from a DOS based to Windows based is the migration of the DOS based data itself into a Windows based program.
To be honest I have not seen a Windows based program that is capable of extracting data from DOS based program into its own database.
Running a DOS based program in a Virtual Machine
Running a DOS based program inside a virtual machine is the closest you can get if you want your DOS based program to work as you want it to be like on a 32-bit computer.
But do not expect a DOS based program to work flawlessly inside a virtual machine at it where in a 32-bit computer.
Problem that I Encountered in a DOS based program inside a Virtual Machine
A DOS based program running inside a virtual machine can actually give you the same experience and feel as if you were using it in a normal 32-bit computer.
But there are exceptions where you are going to encounter problems that are not present or never been happened on a 32-bit computer.
For example, you cannot print to a printer unless you restart the virtual machine. Another problem that you can encounter is problem on print-out format wherein the format of the print-out will mess up (texts will be printed in the next row even if the space is still half of the paper).
Another example is you may find it hard for a DOS based program to print on a printer connected on the virtual machine host or on a printer attached to another printer in the network.
For I.T. beginners
I wrote this article particularly for I.T. beginners so that they can use it as a guide if they ever need to use virtual machine just for the sake of running a DOS based program.
I will update this article if ever I found another problem on DOS based program installed inside a virtual machine.
