Before we could afford a copy of Windows, there was another file manager available
If anyone can remember as far back as DOS 4.01, then you'll no doubt have some fond memories of one of the best Microsoft file manager programs ever: MS-DOS Shell. It was a graphical user interface that afforded controi of many of the commands inherent to DOS itself; so you could move, copy, delete, change attributes, rename files and directories as well as create directories - all from a clear and surprisingly friendly menu system.
As far graphical user interfaces went, DOS Shell was fairly basic in terms of its looks - although for the time it was pretty standard. In actual fact, though, DOS Shell was really referred to as a TUI rather than a GUI - TUI standing for Text User Interface - and so, as a product, stood alongside other file managers like of Midnight Commander (itself a clone of Norton's Commander offering) and so on.
In reality, it was rarely used. Most of the technically minded people of the time had the command lines down to near perfection at this point and, even in a networked environment, could easily map DOS drive letters to servers and other computers with relative ease. It did come in handy, though, for those times when you needed multiple programs open at the same time.
By looking to the Options menu and enabling the Task Swapper, you were able to switch back and forth between open programs; there was even a handy mark next to the command to indicate which task swapping was swapping.
History
MS-DOS Shell was introduced back in 1988 with DOS 4.01, with the launch of multitasking; a huge upgrade from DOS 3.x. To begin with its operation and functionality was fairly basic. For example, there were some missing functions despite the multitasking benefits of the new DOS. However, after a rewrite in DOS 4.01a DOS Shell became the familiar GUI (TUI) that we all came to know and love.
The concept from Microsoft was simple enough: there were still many users who couldn't afford an upgrade to the new-fangled Windows 2.1, so its engineers had the idea of bringing an element of Windows-like file management offered by their latest OS to the current - and growing - number of DOS users. As such, DOS Shell was born with its ability to view Dual File Lists. In other words, the contents of drives simultaneously. For that alone, it soon became a much loved resource among the user base.
Considering it was soon overtaken by Windows - with that being a true multitasking environment - DOS Shell did manage to last well into 1993 with the Supplemental disk version of DOS 6.20 - although it was dropped in DOS 6.0 in 1991.
The Good
It was a great little interface for the purposes copying, renaming and viewing two drive panes at once much easi.
The Bad
It often needed refreshing and had problems running programs due to it taking up too much conventional memory.
Conclusion
DOS Shell was really very good. It offered a decent graphical view to your files and folders and for the not-so-technical user. It also really helped people to better visualise the structure of a hard drive with its files and directories.
Did You Know?
• Starting DOS Shell with the /T syntax launched it in Text Mode
• Whereas launching it with :res[H] started it in High Resolution mode
• You could list all the files on the drive along with its attributes
• DOS Shell is still available today and works in DOSBox