OS/2 – Yes, THAT OS/2 – is getting an upgrade

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  1. Posts : 19,516
    W11+W11 Developer Insider + Linux
       #11

    I don't recall having any warm feelings about OS/2, not even for Warp but it looks like that Retro is modern now, expecting an Edsel in modernized version soon.
    I might try this one as a part of my winter sports plan.
      My Computers


  2. Posts : 22,740
    Windows 10 Home x64
       #12

    CountMike said:
    I don't recall having any warm feelings about OS/2, not even for Warp but it looks like that Retro is modern now, expecting an Edsel in modernized version soon.
    I might try this one as a part of my winter sports plan.
    The only reason I have any warm fuzzy feelings for it is due to the fact it was different when I used it at work.
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 11,247
    Windows / Linux : Arch Linux
       #13

    Hi there.

    OS/2 was a REAL multi-tasking OS back in those days while Windows was cheaper but worked. IBM though was totally uninterested in the HOME PC market and the rest is history.

    IBM tried to hobble Ms (the upstart company at the time) by copyrighting its BIOS (which was actually BASIC !!). Ms had to do some clever design to get its own OS (Ms-DOS) to work without infringing IBM's copyright.

    However Ms eventually succeeded with a fairly stable version of Windows (3.0) which ran on top of Ms DOS. The real corporate breakthrough came with Windows 3.1 and 3.11 (called Windows for Workgroups) which at the time worked OK.

    The mega disaster was WINDOWS NT ( NEANDERTHAL or NO THANKS) we called it -- to get anything to work was the ultimate pain, Fortunately Windows 2000 and possibly the best OS Ms wrote Windows server 2003 (W2K3 server) cleaned up the rest of corporate networks and small businesses.

    IBM is now primarily a service company with a few labs around the place --- amazing how things have changed in not such a long space of time.

    Cheers
    jimbo
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 720
    Win10 x64 Pro - 2 desktops, 2 laptops
       #14

    Ztruker said:
    ... Back in those days MS was the "Evil Empire" :) and IBM had no idea how to sell or support a PC based OS.
    Part of the initial problem was that that IBM implied (or didn't disabuse customers who assumed) that OS/2 would run only on PS/2s. That greatly delayed general acceptance. Also, there apparently was not a common generic software installation procedure so each 3rd party product seemed to have it's own process. (I suspect it was just the gui that was different, but that was enough to confuse customers.)

    I remember having a dual-boot OS/2 and Windows system - probably Windows 95 - for quite a while. I greatly preferred OS/2, but that may have been just a familiarity issue.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,662
    W10 Pro (desktop), W11 (laptop), W11Pro (tablet)
       #15

    jimbo45 said:
    ... IBM tried to hobble Ms (the upstart company at the time) by copyrighting its BIOS (which was actually BASIC !!). Ms had to do some clever design to get its own OS (Ms-DOS) to work without infringing IBM's copyright....
    That's hilariously wrong. IBM's BIOS was never BASIC although the original IBM line of PCs did have BASIC in ROM. Having BASIC in ROM meant that even if there was no disk in the disk drive with an OS on it to boot from, the machine could still boot to a BASIC prompt and run BASIC programs.

    The only thing MS needed to do for MS DOS vs IBM's PC DOS was to include gwbasic.exe instead of basica.exe that PC DOS came with. Basica relied on some of the BASIC code in ROM to run.

    I was a beta tester for OS/2 and developed OS/2 software for quite a few years. The fact that Windows won out had nothing to do with the two OS's capabilities because OS/2 was clearly more capable. OS/2 had true multi-tasking capabilities while Windows was simply a GUI on top of DOS in versions prior to Win NT. Lack of 3rd party support for drivers and native OS/2 software was OS/2's downfall.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 806
    Windows 10 Home version 20H2 64bit OS Build 19042.1023
       #16

    I don't know anything about OS/2 But speaking of windows 3.1 I read that a airport terminal running on windows 3.1 in Paris just recently grounded several flights do to a crash.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 7
    Windows 10 x64, Windows 7 Ultimate x32 desktop
       #17

    OS/2 is going to get an upgrade...WOW

    It was the o/s I used for my first job...so long ago.

    I remember I bought it when I was in college. It was a pretty big box with an astronaut printed on it.
    2 CDs and 2 1.44 floppy disks and a bunch of manuals.

    May not be the same year, 95 came out, I bought it also.
    OS/2 remained my o/s until I changed to an other job.

    One thing about OS/2 was that it had something like DOS batch(.bat). It was cmd. It is fun to use it!
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
       #18

    CD's was later on. When I first got OS/2, I had a PS/2 Model 80 as well and it was many 3.5" floppies and a lot of manuals... IBM still has AIX and the RiSC machines.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 7
    Windows 10 x64, Windows 7 Ultimate x32 desktop
       #19

    For windows 3.1/3.11, there were 10 or more floppies. Chinese version even got more!
    They didn't sell OS/2 using floppies in my place...that may be a sales strategy!
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,091
    Windows XP/7/8/8.1/10, Linux, Android, FreeBSD Unix
       #20

    Windows/286 and Windows/386 had lots of floppies too, forgot how many exactly but never really used it as during that time, DOS + QEMM/386 + Quarterdeck DeskView worked better for multi-tasking...
      My Computer


 

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