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What, you mean like when Windows NT took out the U.S.S. Yorktown?

Or perhaps the endless backdoors that no one can actually audit because the EULA doesn't allow for it? So even the most paranoid of the paranoid get owned as a result?

Or perhaps you should instead rephrase your question into "Why Linux?" and then go read what Peruvian Congressman Dr. Edgar David Villaneuca Nunez has to say about the matter?

Dare I mention Microsoft's well-known anti-competitive ways?

Sometimes--even if a commercial tool is "better" for the task (and I really don't think it is), blind application of pure personal utilitarianism means you have to set aside any morals about supporting a corporation that's as blatantly ruthless as Microsoft is.

But hey--if you don't mind contributing to Microsoft's current inhumanity, then by all means, go ahead and pay their outrageous licensing fees and the more power to ya.

No, really: you just go ahead and knock down your straw man--in this case perhaps named the "One True Operating System" zealot--and the rest of us sane individuals will keep on doing real work with tools we know we can trust.

http://www.os2hq.com/archives/arch25.htm

Check that guy out. He's a consultant that wants to force his clients to use OS/2, even though there are virtually no apps for it. He also claims Windows will wear out your processor faster.

I was first impressed with Mac zealots. Generally pretty clueless, but quite dedicated and commanded several BUZZWORDS. Then came the Linux zealots - typically much smarter, but too bent on "world domination" to remain objective and convincing. But the OS/2 zealots - maaaaaan, they take the cake.

I think lack of APPLICATIONS and updates had a lot more to do with its demise than lack of marketing, too. Maybe. Just maybe. Slight possibility there.

From Microspeak Universal Translator at www.OS2HQ.com

Dead
Microspeak: disappeared; no longer in use.
Real Meaning: a product that does not have monopoly market share.
Usage: "It's only a matter of time before Netscape Navigator is *dead*."
Agenda: To make everyone think that as soon as a Microsoft product is leveraged into a high market share, all the alternatives instantly vaporize.

IBM pull more profit from OS/2 then RedHat makes revenue. It is better supported, and was the original inspiration that made Linux possible. I mean, TeamOS2 was the first grass-roots movement that showed that people could move an OS by themselves.

Sure, Linux is based on bits and peices from free UNIX stuff, but there's a lot of OS/2 and TeamOS2 mentality in it.

OS/2 is the future now. If OS/2 dies now, maybe the whole industry dies in five year's time.

And, by the way, it's a pretty narrow-minded person who can only spell a word one way.

I've heard plenty of stories of OS/2 Warp Server doing the same thing. The above article may have been glamourized a bit, but I think it's quite believeable.

Part of it (IBM's decision to abandon OS/2) was definitely Microsoft related -- MS didn't grant them the OEM license for Win95 until very late in the game, largely due to the fact that they had a competing OS. However, IBM politics also played a big role, and Tom Nadeau has a rant on the subject which tells a lot about it. (Brad Wardell has a column on the same subject somewhere on stardock.com (hey! I just said that!), but I don't have a direct link.

- Mark

I think you'll someday find that Microsoft is feeding the press with data to show Linux's weaknesses. That is how they 'compete'. Unfortunate for them, they aren't 'competing' with IBM, its Linux. Weaknesses will be patched quickly and tested by the community too quickly for Microsoft. They won't be able to wait for a liquid cooled CPU to become the norm so NT v5/2000 can beat Linux in future tests.

Fair benchmarking and reporting is not the norm in this industry. Recently IBMs Warp Server for e-business was hammered on InfoWorld (the link is now broken to the article....). It turns out the guy who wrote the column is the Senior Contributing Editor and Columnist of Windows NT Systems magazine. See "Hatchet Job"

Complaining/exposing a injustice is how we open the eyes of the unknowing. Example: At my stock investment club meeting last night, one member insisted that NT was faster then Linux in all cases and that Linux had a weak GUI. I booted OpenLinux v2.2 on my P120 laptop an he started questioning his beliefs. The rest of the goup was surprised at the polish they saw. All but one member are professionals in the technology industry though mostly embedded/realtime systems.