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OS/2 Going, Going... Gone
An anonymous submitter writes "IBM has posted a Software Withdrawal notice on their web site announcing that the OS/2 operating system, in all its forms, will cease to be available for purchase from IBM as of March 12, 2003. For users who have purchased the two year OS/2 Software Choice subscriptions, service will continue until December 31, 2004." We posted a pretty good story about the history of OS/2 earlier this year.
Check out eComStation (www.ecomstation.com), which is a beefed up OS/2 distribution. You get lots of neat goodies like SMP support, new filesystems, better driver support, X-Windows, and all sorts of other stuff.
It really was great for multitasking. And, you could format a floppy disk while you were doing other things! But, seriously, for those of us who could only afford one computer, it let us use it while also allowing the users access. It sure as hell beat DESQView or Windows 3.1.
Well... depends. There's probably a good bit of MS code lurking around in utilities, and certainly most of HPFS is from MS, but the last bit of MS code was excised from the kernel and UI in the Warp (3.0) days.
As I recall, there was a party thrown down in Boca Raton when the last bit of MS code was removed. Warp was also much more stable than previous versions of the OS.
I'm sure there are bits and pieces of the OS that could be of use to the open source community, but I think that by and large you're correct about code age.
The bits that would be of the most use are probably of mixed copyright and thus unreleaseable.
Actually OS/2 hasn't been the platform of choice for most ATM's for years now. I'm sure there are older ones running OS/2 which are still in service, but, for the most part they're being phased out in favour of more modern systems.
In fact, I don't believe that any ATMs even made it up to an OS/2 Warp 4 installation.
And this is in Africa - so I'm certain that North America, Europe, and Asia MUST be even further ahead at phasing it out!
First, remember when OS/2 came out and compare it to the Windows offering at that point in time.
Now, the features of OS/2:
- a flexible object-oriented graphic user interface
- the ability to multi-task applications and to allow multi-threading within applications
- support for most DOS and Windows 3.1 software in addition to native OS/2 applications
- WARP 4 includes in its basic package a voice type dictation facility that not only allows a user to navigate an OS/2 system using voice commands, but also allows dictation of text into documents--truly hands-free computing!
- WARP 4 includes built-in support for JAVA.
- OS/2 has included a web browser since version 3, and new browsers continue to be developed
- The Mozila open source group offers an OS/2 version code named Warpzilla. Warpzilla is very modern, standards compliant, and very usable. Major bugs are addressed in a day or two and milestone builds are released regularly. Warpzilla grows stronger every day.
- There is an OS/2 version of Adobe Acrobat which can be configured as a helper application with Netscape Navigator.
This info and more is available at this computer society's Web site.
If you celebrate Xmas, befriend me (538
OS/2 Going, Going... Gone
Shouldn't that be, "OS/2 Going, Going... Going"?
It will be availibe for purchase for a few months, and for support a couple of years.
Have you read my journal today?
Windows NT. And before you start laughing, I've seen it. It's not very reassuring to walk by a set of ATMs, all of them displaying either an error-message (asking you to click on Ok, or press F1 to make it even better), or even bluescreens.
A couple of months ago, I was standing in line to deposit money into one of those weird reverse-ATM type machines. The lady in front of me had already deposited 4000SEK (about $400), when the machine bluescreened and ate her money. This was around 7pm, so no one was available to help her.
I just walked away, happy it wasn't me, and kept the cash on hand instead.
I am still running OS/2 on my main system. I have been running Post Road Mailer 3.0. I still have not been infected by any virus. When people say, I might have sent out email because I have contracted another outlook virus, I laugh.
You are still running OS/2. Many ATMs and cash registers still run OS/2.
Fight Spammers!
OS/2 used preemptive multitasking when windows was still using cooperative multitasking.
OS/2 included things like REXX and a couple useful editors, when Windows included solitaire. (Yeah, OS/2 had a solitaire game, too.)
OS/2 included the Internet Access Kit (or some such), including the WebExplorer browser, a news reader, a mail reader, etc. when MS still considered the Web a dying fad.
Later, OS/2 included the IBM Voice recognition software in the box. Windows NT included the BSOD.
The list goes on and on. Like the previous poster said, search the web. The OS/2 Fido groups on old fashioned bulletine board systems were great technical resources, unlike the AOL polluted usenet of today.
Check out www.ecomstation.com :)
This is essentially OS/2. I checked up on some usenet groups discussing IBM's announcement, and it seems clear that the eCS folks knew about this when they started eCS, so OS/2 (in the form of eCS) should be around much much longer than 2004!
-Dave
moo
Release it's source code under GPL?
This would be a great opportunity for IBM to show it's Cluefull....
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
It didn't matter much what it costs to end-users. What mattered is that developers had to pay through the nose for the SDK when MS would overnight complete Windows developer kits to you just for asking. Heck, even IBMers had to jump through hoops to get developer kits AND systems big enough to run them.
Great O/S, but virtually no apps until it was too late.
JoAnn
Wrong.
IBM developed and released (in a very limited release) a microkernel-based OS/2 Warp (PowerPC Edition) in 1995.
More information about this is available here:
Highly Unofficial IBM OS/2 Beta FAQ
I loved OS/2 Warp
So many great memories.
The first ime I saw the Work Place Shell. It was work of art when compared to that monstrosity called PROGMAN that Win 3.1 had. I still think that Win9x/XP's shell is not as good. Even the simple Eye candy stuff like transparent background on ICON text.
The first time I used PMMAIL for OS/2. Still a great e-mail app and the only shareware I have EVER resgisterd... I still use the windows version of PMMAIL, it is showing its age but it is great. http://www.blueprintsoftwareworks.com
The first time the Single Input Que was completly SMASHED beyond recovery, and the many many other times after that. Sure the system was still running, my downloads continued, apps kept grinding away ok, just couldn't do a thing with the computer (this had a 'bandaid' fix in version 4, but it dodn't work very well).
The first time I realized how many webapges had converted to FRAMES, which IBM's Webexplorer did not support. I kept wondering why so many pages looked like trash.
When winnuke was making the rounds a lot of cheating Quake players would try to 'nuke' my machine to make me lose. Too bad I was playing Quake under OS/2. That pirated/leaked/whatever copy of QUAKE/2 was faster than the native DOS version and the Win32 version on my machine.
What killed OS/2? In my opinion...
1 - The lack of a good browser, IBM's webexplorer blew chunks, Netscape OS/2 version were old and unstable.
2 - That GD Single Input Que. Not problem with if the apps being use are well written and 'bullet proof'. But there wasn't much choice for apps in the OS/2 world.
3 - No games. Thats why I changed. Online gaming was adictive. It was the oonly reason I turned on my computer for about a year or so.
4 - Marketing. Who gives a flip if some italian/spanish/portugues/whatever nun is using Warp? Good grief! lots of their commercials were in FORIEGN languages with subtitles. That alone excludes the majority of windoze lusers that are too lazy to read!
5 - It did not grow with hardware. Good luck getting almost any new soundcard, modem or video card working under OS/2. Have a large hard drive? Anything over 4.3GB is going to require some updates. Want to use any USB devices? Have fun writing them.
That said. I miss OS/2. I think I might keep an eye out for a low end P2 system to install it on just for old times sake. There are a lot of open source linux apps ported over now... sure it seems illogical to install warp just to use ported linux apps that are allready installed on my Win2k or Mandrak machine, but who said geeks are logical?
~Z
Actually NT was supposed to be OS/2 2. MS however cancelled those plans when Windows 3.0 became a huge success. Instead they decided to make NT more of a "windows". IBM then went on and release OS/2 2 by itself.
As for the portability of OS/2. There used to be a version running on the CHRP (or PReP or whatever) powerpc platform, so the codebase can't be that tied to the x86. Nor can it be said it piggybacked NT (which of course also ran on the ppc).
At a trade show, he went to the Microsoft booth, and asked what he had to do to get started with Windows development. They handed him a developers kit right there.
He went to the IBM booth, and asked then what he had to do to get started with OS/2 development. They handed him an application to their developer program so he could ask for permission to develop for OS/2 (for a large fee, of course).
I realized OS/2 was truly doomed about a year later, when I went into Egghead, and saw MSDN Library subscriptions for sale. The only OS/2 development tool I saw at Egghead was the Watcom C/C++ compiler.
Another thing that hurt OS/2 was the lack of good third-party documentation. Where was the equivalent of Petzold's wonderful Windows books, that got so many of us started on Windows programming? There IS a book on OS/2 programming by Petzold, but it was often out of print. I'm sure IBM could have managed to get it back into print if they'd wanted.
OS/2 may have the support cables pulled and IBM is pulling the sheet over it's head, but it's still in wide use in a lot of industries. It was a solid 32bit pre-emptive multi-tasking system for it's time (before Win95). The only other alternative at the time was real Unix systems but that was a huge cost for small businesses. OS/2 provided the reliability and stability that some businesses needed.
The majority of the current user base is banks. They have (or perhaps had?) a HUGE investment in OS/2. Most ATMs ran and are still running OS/2 for their operating system. The uptime is incredible so without support or the ability to continue the product, most businesses must get off of OS/2 asap. Of course we've known that it was a burning platform for years now but with such a large installed base and legacy applications running off it, who has the time or budget to move off.
We currently use OS/2 with our train control systems as well as a few other key safety systems. It's just as reliable as it was years ago and our plan to move to another platform doesn't manifest itself until the 2004-2005 timeframe.
OS2 has much code not owned by IBM. When it's gone it's gone. For those wanting to know OS2, visit your library for _The Design of OS/2_ by Deitel and Kogan. ISBN is 0201548895 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201548895/ qid%3D1039634259/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-7 383789-4055863
Yes, but for those who remember 1994, Warp was the easiest way to get onto the internet. Remember, Windows didn't come with a TCP/IP stack until August 1995. And Netscape was no prize back in 1994 either.
This bundled OS/2 internet access package was a lot easier than downloading and installing Trumpet Winsock, manually configuring dial-up scripts, and using Netscape 2. And a lot more stable. Point-and-click setup if you signed up for IBM's consumer internet offering on the IBM Global Network (ibm.net, since sold to AT&T IIRC), and still configurable via the GUI if you used a local ISP who supported SLIP. PPP was a bit more trying, but also worked after an update to the IBM Dialer.
WebExplorer, 3rd-party email app PMMail, and the other OS/2-bundled web apps for Usenet, Archie, etc. were great. IBM's own email app did blow chunks, and truncated at about 60k into large emails, but otherwise the OS/2 Internet Access Suite was totally usable. And PMMail was a cheap download that was a modern, 3-pane layout mailer that would be immediately familiar to anybody using Eudora or even today's Outlook Express.
I know a number of people who got OS/2, especially the "OS/2 for Windows" add-on version, just to get onto the Net.
I'm a little fuzzy on the exact time, but it mainly was when IBM found out about a projected named 'NT' going on at Microsoft. Of course, IBM wasn't in a position to dump Microsoft in an instant. They had to start hiring programmers to take over the code base.
It has been freed.
You seriously needed to optimize that system. I ran Warp 3 on a 486DX40 with only 8 MB RAM. By "ran" I mean I usually had a terminal emulator (sometimes a Windows program), CD player, Bluewave news reader, and either IBM Works or WP 5.1 open. HPFS file system too! I upgraded to 16 MB when the prices suddenly dropped, and it flew. I still ran 16 MB with Warp 4, but I have to admit that one was a pig with the networking installed and I was much happier when I went to 32.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.