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Porting OS/2 Software to Linux

Posted by timothy on from the warped-minds dept.

squiggleslash writes: "IBM's Developer Domain is hosting an article on how to port software written for OS/2 over to Linux. Bottom line -- it's easy, as long as you use an abstraction layer. Hopefully this'll mean the huge amount of OS/2 software out there will start being ported, helping make Linux even more ready for the desktop. Lotus, are you reading?"

1 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. "Huge amount of software" by rudy_wayne · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Yeah right.

    In 1995, IBM tried to one-up Microsoft by releasing a new version of OS/2 before Windows 95 came out. I was looking for an alternative to The Evil Empire and seriously considered OS/2. However, I didn't go with OS/2, even though it was superior to Windows in several areas, because it flunked the "Best Buy" test.

    The Best Buy test:
    Walk into Best Buy (or Circuit City or any store that sells computer software) and count the number of native OS/2 programs sitting on the shelves. Number = 0. Stay away.

    Linux also fails the Best Buy test, which is why it will never pose a serious challenge to Windows (for general consumer use) and will continue to only be used as an OS for servers and computer geeks.