tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post7204992691837248610..comments2024-03-08T15:14:31.312-05:00Comments on Landless: I used OS/2 and loved itTony Nolandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15090583562737225942noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-61171887814521219062016-02-01T23:07:26.953-05:002016-02-01T23:07:26.953-05:00I happened upon this article while searching for s...I happened upon this article while searching for some development-related stuff. As Managing Member of Arca Noae, LLC (currently, the driving force behind OS/2 maintenance and development), I can tell you that while I use OS/2 daily, I am well aware that just as a single screwdriver can't turn all screws, a single OS can't fit every situation.<br /><br />Still, there are places where OS/2 remains entrenched. Large enterprises which invested small fortunes in custom software continue to depend upon the OS. Arca Noae provides new and updated drivers to allow the OS to run on today's hardware, ensuring longer term support for running applications.<br /><br />Frankly, if you thought OS/2 was snappy on a 486, you should feel it on a modern quad core system. The memory footprint which once held OS/2 back from mainstream adoption (who had 16MB RAM in 1990?) is now a fraction of the size of modern Linux, let alone Windows. Ported Linux apps help maintain some parity on the desktop with other OSes, too. (There are recent Firefox, SeaMonkey, and Thunderbird builds for OS/2, as well as an up-to-the-minute version of OpenOffice.) For running some 32-bit Windows apps, there is Odin, which is based (to some extent) on the Wine project.<br /><br />It would be great to see some former OS/2 users come back and give Blue Lion a spin when it goes GA.Lewis Rosenthalhttps://www.arcanoae.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-16036996752241219002012-04-03T11:36:02.163-04:002012-04-03T11:36:02.163-04:00I'm with you on OS/2, but I NEVER liked WordPe...I'm with you on OS/2, but I NEVER liked WordPerfect -- preferred Multimate, thanks, and preferred LOTUS 1-2-3 and Symphony to Quattro Pro. As far as the Operating systems go, I loved XENIX and OS/2, but you had to enjoy getting under the hood and tinkering -- like LINUX now. <br /><br />Even now, a lot of people (this comes out of almost 20 years of support) can barely do the basics with their PCs. Tell someone "press CTRL-ALT-DEL" and you'll hear "are you sure? I won't break the computer?"<br /><br />And Rob has a point about no apps. That killed Steve Jobs' Unix workstations, too and I thought they were awesome for the time.<br /><br />There have been a lot of missed opportunities in IT history. OS/2 is just one of them (it didn't help that OS/2 ran best on PS/2s...)Janet Aldrichhttp://demonesprit.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-67343585219884621612012-04-02T13:32:52.303-04:002012-04-02T13:32:52.303-04:00Rob, thanks for the detailed comment - it's go...Rob, thanks for the detailed comment - it's good to compare notes on this. The compiler issues were widely rumored at the time, and it was certainly my experience that every new patch for Windows broke OS/2. This was borne out by testimony in the antitrust suits, years after it was too late.<br /><br />As tempting as it is to blame Microsoft for everything, I don't, not anymore. The article I linked to goes into much more detail about IBM's marketing and design failures, their fumbling with personal computers, Microsoft's hardball tactics (legal and otherwise), and the changes in the PC ecosystem that made OS/2 such a hard sell.<br /><br />Personally, I never found OS/2 difficult to use, but one of the issues raised in the article is that the vast majority of people did. Especially in comparison with Mac or Windows, OS/2 was (as that quote says so nicely) a nerd's OS. If you knew a lot about computers, you loved it. If you just wanted it to work and were unable to optimize, tweak or troubleshoot, it wasn't your cup of tea. I think that more than anything else would have always limited OS/2 to a techno-user niche.Tony Nolandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090583562737225942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-87282560731184335902012-04-02T13:14:59.507-04:002012-04-02T13:14:59.507-04:00I used a Mac for a while, and tried to get into Li...I used a Mac for a while, and tried to get into Linux, but never made the kind of commitment to it that it required. Interoperability with specialized software was always too paramount, and that meant Windows.Tony Nolandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15090583562737225942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-23169567018601053122012-04-02T11:56:23.806-04:002012-04-02T11:56:23.806-04:00I used OS/2. I loved OS/2. But there was no softw...I used OS/2. I loved OS/2. But there was no software for it. And as a developer, I couldn't write software for it. I don't know the truth about whether or not Microsoft did the stupid things like prevent their compilers from working to an OS/2 target or not--I didn't use Microsoft compilers back then. But I do know that when I tried to sell some OS/2 products, I was thwarted by weird licensing, bizarre regulations and other difficulties that came from the IBM folks. Basically, if they didn't want me to sell my applications, I couldn't. Much like Apple was for a while. <br /><br />It's a shame that OS/2 didn't have a better plight. But personally, blaming Microsoft for all of what went wrong with it is not fair or accurate. And trust me I'm not a Microsoft defender - I personally have plenty of reasons to be bitter and hateful towards Microsoft. But even so I don't support the constant bashing they receive. <br /><br />OS/2 failed because it had no software to support it and the software which did support it was not easy to maintain (at least the software I was trying to use). At that time the Borland compilers were more dominant than the Microsoft ones (again, at least where I was concerned), so the Microsoft stuff was less of an issue in my opinion than this article implies.<br /><br />Anyway, my ranting aside, I agree: OS/2 was a great operating system and it is a shame that a) it went away and b)Windows/Linux/Mac-os still haven't equaled it 25 years later.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7797188666559531190.post-75474878564651528122012-04-02T11:43:17.305-04:002012-04-02T11:43:17.305-04:00Except for a brief flirtation with a 286+287 box a...Except for a brief flirtation with a 286+287 box about 20 years ago, I never had a Microsoft box running in my house. Amigas, Macs, and various flavors of Unix. At work, it took IT 14 years to get me off a Mac, and they still haven't succeeded 100%.Larry Kollarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08317037795075278427noreply@blogger.com