Batch files work very well under XP, there are several useful extra commands over DOS.
The rules are occasionally a bit different and the parsing mechanism isn't completely consistent with DOS, but they're still pretty similar.
Beware of the difference between "command" and "cmd" - "CMD.exe is the NT/XP equivalent of Command.com in previous operating systems. The older 16 bit command processor command.com is supplied to provide backward compatibility for 16 bit DOS applications. e.g. command.com will fail to set %errorlevel% after certain commands.
To ensure that a batch file will not run if accidentally copied to a Windows 95/98 machine you should use the extension .CMD rather than .BAT
The COMSPEC environment variable will show if you are running CMD.EXE or command.com"
Remove the finalk EXIT from your file and run it in a command window - you should then be able to see any errors generated.
Batch files are fun!
PS: For real power consider the REXX scripting language -
http://regina-rexx.sourceforge.net/