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IBM's OS/2 Strategy for 2003
Landreth writes "OS2World.com reports that IBM has released their OS/2 strategy for 2003. They appear to be pushing the WebSphere Software Platform as well as client and server upgrades to Warp 4. The report can be viewed at IBM's website."
Well, for one thing, many companies (like Musicland, which owns Sam Goody, Suncoast, and other music stores) use OS/2 to manage their individual stores. I worked temp at a Sam Goody, and was surprised to find the graphical OS/2 interface hidden behind some dumb text-based check-out program. Worked pretty well, too. I don't believe it ever crashed within the time I was there, unlike the Windows machine (for searching their music database) which really sucked.
It was corrected on a slashback. The EOLs are mostly for hardcopy documentation and other bundled software, not for OS/2 itself.
and Sendmail all on OS/2 Warp Server for e-Business and every bit as solid as Linux.. and faster. 32-bit BSD TCP/IP stack, et.all The UnixOS/2 Development team has been making OS/2 a world-class server entry.
-- Ted tsikora@powerusersbbs.com
TaskManager is a POS. It doesn't always kill errant programs. Anyone with a 1/3rd a brain knows its a POS.
I guess that excludes you.
There was a really interesting article on the OS that I read a few months ago... I can't find the damn URL, but if you do a google search you will find quite a few resources with information on OS/2. It is apparently still quite popular with banks (mostly due to having existing infrastructure that relies on it paired with good ol' inertia).
perl -e 'print $i=pack(c5, (41*2), sqrt(7056), (unpack(c,H)-2), oct(115), 10)'
I don't use it, but I ran it for quite some time.
Most GNU and free software apps have been ported to it at one time or another. GCC, Xfree86, Mozilla, all were ported long before they were ported to Win32.
It still has a heap of useful software apps, and it has some things which Linux has been working on since at least 1995.
Like:
It lacked:
The GUI also had a message queueing problem which prevented apps from responding when one app seized the queue.
In the late days of BBSes, OS/2 was the prefered platform. You could strip out the GUI and the multitasking was very good. Desqview was the only competitor in that field, Linux was too new and strange for the BBS world -- BBSes were a PC phenomenon. Unix and variants were part of an educational and business world which didn't cross into the PC world.
IBM never released the package for free (short of betas back in the early '90s), and now I believe it costs a fortune to get a copy... if you can get it at all.
ATM machines, specifically. I worked in the marketing group for a small tech-savvy bank once, and was given the task of customizing our (single) ATM's 'demo loop'.
You had to have an OS/2 machine loaded with the ATM software (am emulator, essentially), change the graphics/text/animation and so forth in the emu, and then create a boot floppy.
You rebooted the ATM with the boot floppy, and voila! New interface!
As soon as I told my boss I was going to need a machine running OS/2 and the ATM emulator software (which we couldn't locate anyway) his response was "uh, nevermind."
I wish I still had those docs. It was interesting stuff: what was logged, and where, how to hook up the cash counter to the (serial, IIRC) port, etc. Neat stuff. The ATM innards were by Fujitsu, if memory serves.
I'm another current user; OS/2 (in its eCS garb) is the only OS on my primary machine (though, admitedly, I have others for Linux and NT).
As for getting it, there are two options:
1) Get the current, non-IBM-branded version from Serenity Systems (www.ecomstation.com)
2) Get the current (or previous versions, if you want) of the IBM version on eBay. Copies are available all the time for far less that you'd pay IBM.
OS/2 1.0 was non-graphical. OS/2 1.1 had the first gui. I ran 'em both.
Until March 14, a fully-installable of OS/2 Warp 4.52 (the newest version) is delivered to you on two CDs when you purchase a 2-year subscription to Software Choice. Software Choice can be purchased online at:
2 31 ,0-12556-311-307063-3,00.html?tag=st.sh.12556-311- 3070
c tI d=114867&affid=874&adid=8744 sure.com/product.asp?ProductI d=114867&affid=874&adid=874t er.com/cgi-bin/utsearch?cd=02 &sku=IBM00310/ item.asp?sku=42 3884TD&S=324Ci ons/item.asp?sk u=423884TD&S=324Cd b2www/mns_art2.d2w/ report?catname=SWCHOICE&username=&i1=&o=&x=06:13:0 3
http://shopper.cnet.com/shopping/resellers/1,10
Other online sites selling Software Choice:
http://www.computers4sure.com/product.asp?Produ
http://www.solutions
http://www.pagecompu
http://www.techstore.com/solutions
http://www.officeexpress.com/solut
http://shop.mensys.nl/cgi-bin/
After March 14 (or when supplies at the above run out), you can get a new Warp 4.52 license through IBM's "Passport Advantage" program (new CD media is $20 additional) which requires a free online registration. Info from IBM is at:
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/os/warp/swchoice/
I'm sorry, but OS/2 has never been and will never be a "world-class server entry". It's not multiuser, doesn't scale onto multiprocessor boxes, requires reboots after software installs/upgrades, relies too heavily on the desktop for administration, and just generally isn't stable enough for the corporate server.
TROLL What a bunch of total crap. OS/2 was SMP enabled from 2.11 (or 2.1 I believe) and scaled almost flawlessly linear as the number of processors grew. As a matter of fact, the OS/2 SMP model was one of the best models ever created and to this day is an example of how proper SMP should be done. OS/2 also ran services the same as Unix did, although with a slightly different model. Didn't know how to use REXX, eh? I used to work for a company (Lands End in USA) that used OS/2 for three 800 person 24-hour call centers and almost never was there a problem with OS/2. And when there was, it never stopped business. It chugged along like a tank. For even larger settings, you would combine OS/2 and an AS/400 or S/390 and have an unbeatable combination. The GUI was single threaded in the end (although extremely powerful), but command line OS/2 was as much Unix like as you could want and with all of the power you could handle. I could talk about OS/2 for hours, but the fact is is that you a an idiot troll, and if you knew anything about OS/2 Server and OS/2 Advanced Server you would realize how much of an idiot you look like.
I use it on a a spare P200 in my office as a utility box and backup workstation. The system is running OS/3 Warp Connect 3.0 fully patched with the latest fixpacks.
The box runs an Apache 1.3.26 server where co-workers can download utilities I've written and where I test new CGI programs to give them a real cross platform shakedown. It also runs a Python tool of mine via Cron/2 that scans the National Weather Service every five minutes and pages me when there are severe weather watches and warnings for my area. The darned thing is rock solid, never crashes (I can't even say that about my Redhat 7.3 system), and just plain works.
It also functions as a backup workstation, with Mozilla 1.l, openssh and a Citrix client so I can get my work done when my Win2K laptop goes in the tank, which happens all too frequently. With a P200 and 160 mb RAM, it is too old and slow to run even Windows 95 once you patch it up with all the security updates, and you can forget about running KDE or Gnome on it if you want responsiveness (though enlightenment runs pretty smoothly). OS/2 on the other hand is delighted with the processor and RAM. Sometimes it is more efficient to use an older OS on an older box.
Yep, here it is: http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=98/06/08/213122 7&mode=thread&tid=136/
It actually WAS Ralph Nader!
Yes, architecture as in buildings. Autocad is not the only program that can write a DWG or DXF file, Just as MS word is not the only program that can write a DOC file. AutoCAD is also not the best CAD program on the planet, although Autodesk would like you to think so. There are decent alternatives, although no good free (GPL) ones.
I am no more a fan of Autodesk than I am Microsoft, because these companies have created market conditions that limit both choice to consumers and technical innovation in software.