It's an April Fools' prank, but it still works

Apr 1, 2015 07:44 GMT  ·  By

All eyes are on Windows 10 for PCs and phones, but before bringing this out, Microsoft took the time to develop an alternative operating system called MS-DOS Mobile and supposed to let you use your Lumia smartphone with command lines.

Yes, you've guessed it right, this is an April Fools' prank, but it's kind of different from all the others because MS-DOS mobile does exist and it does work on your phone. It's not an operating system per se, but an application that can be installed from the store and lets you have fun by typing in commands to perform specific tasks.

This new OS comes with the familiar look of MS-DOS and supports a variety of commands, but do not expect it to do anything else than accessing apps and features that are actually part of Windows Phone 8.1.

Supported commands

There are several commands that you can type in, as follows:

contacts - lets you access your phone contacts email [address] - opens an email composer and lets you write down text, but emails are sent through the built-in WP client maps [search terms] - open the Maps app market - access the Windows Phone Store phone [number] - call a given number Cortana [search terms] - uses Cortana to search for information SMS [number] - opens SMS composer (works just like the email command) internet.exe - launches Internet Explorer with the traditional modem connection sound camera.exe - opens the camera and lets you take photos in ASCII mode, black and white, or CGA

Additionally, there's also a game if you navigate to the following path:

code
cd games
cd rps
rps.exe

Only working on Windows Phone 8.1

Obviously, this doesn't bring any benefits for Windows Phone users, but it's a pretty cool way to spend some free time, while also going back to the old MS-DOS design.

The app is only available for Windows Phone 8.1 devices and can be used free of charge, so get it while you still can because Microsoft might actually remove it very soon.

MS-DOS Mobile on Lumia 930 (14 Images)

MS-DOS Mobile on Lumia 930
MS-DOS Mobile on Lumia 930MS-DOS Mobile on Lumia 930
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