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As far as top productivity OS, I use Linux, and DR-DOS (see below for info on why DR-DOS is better than MS-DOS). Which is more productive, I can't say for sure. Linux gives me the ability to start X & Gnome, when I want to do things best accomplished in a GUI, but I am usually (90+ % of the time) at the text console. SVGAlib, AAlib, SVGATextMode, links and mplayer make full multimedia work very nicely, and when I am being productive, a straight-up text editor (JOE) is more helpful than all the IDEs in the world.
DR-DOS, of course, is just about equally productive for programming, thanks to multitasking. I don't have web browser and media players for it though.

DR-DOS (http://www.drdos.net/) is at least
equal to MS-DOS in every way I know except possibly running Windows under it. (Deliberate effort of MS to stop Win 3.1 from running under the competition, not sure if it still causes problems or not)

It's main advantage, however, is multi-tasking. This functionality brings it almost to the level of UNIX.
On 386 and later machines, a system similar to Linux virtual consoles is used, so a hotkey brings up a menu to background the current process and switch to another console.
On 286 and earlier machines, the hotkey menu supports task swapping (essentially suspend a task and open a new virtual console, or switch to another virtual console with an already-suspended program; one program at a time running, many suspended)

You could get DrDos from here:
http://www.drdos.net/download.htm

or you could try Freedos

I have a laptop similar to this one, except the specifications are almost double. It is a 486dx2/66 with 8 MB RAM, and a 125MB HDD. DR-DOS 7.03 runs rather well on this for the core OS, as does Windows 3.11 for Workgroups for a GUI. If you do not feel like supporting MS (which you would not nessesarily be doing, because Windows 3.11 is freely available on many abandonware sites. But if you have a moral objetion to running abandonware, you can also use Seal Desktop 2.

Seal is available on Sourceforge.net, and is very decent. DR-DOS is free for personal use, but unless you purchase a lisence to use it, there is no support. You do not need to purchase it though. If you go here, you can get it completly free.

You gan still get DR-DOS for free (beer) here, besides there are Free (speech) and Open DOSes around too.

If you want a graphical browser that will run on a 486, you might consider running DOS and Arachne (there's also a Linux version now, I believe). When you ask why use DOS, since it's not protection safe or supports multitasking, realize that at least the latter is a performance penalty and the former usually is. In any case, there are a good many various DOS internet tools here:

http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/

If you have an old 486 lying around, it's probably already got DOS running on it, so why not give running some DOS internet tools a go? You can also try out DR-DOS or FreeDOS. I'd suggest the former, if you can validly use it (go to ftp://ftp.lineo.com/pub/drdos/LICENSE.TXT to find out). You can then go to www.drdos.net to download it. Anyways, I hope this helps, since old 486s aren't really trash, even if you can't easily use Linux or Windows on it because of archaic hardware.

OpenDOS/DR-DOS is another free, open source alternative. eBay has MS-DOS for sale too.

Int 20h is just for compatibility with old programs though. From drdos.net:

If any file that has changed in length is not closed prior to an INT 20H, the directory entries for its length, date, and time will not be correctly recorded (see the Close File (10H) and Close a File Handle (3EH) calls in Chapter 4, DR-DOS System Calls). If you want your program to pass an error or completion code before terminating, use Terminate a Process (4CH).

YMMV. Who programs in DOS nowadays anyway? (Well obviously a few people, look at the size of this thread!)