OT
Mlsft,
I have a new Sony running XP, and I still run an old DOS database program and another old program originally from an IBM AT 286 that I have had for 15 years with no problem. I used to run them in Windows95 and W98, then loaded them to this computer working directly in DOS (create the directory, copy the files into it), put an icon on the desktop, and voila!
Perhaps your programs are more complicated, but I have had no trouble loading and running my DOS programs in XP.
Newly