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The Return of OS/2 Warp Set For 2016 (techrepublic.com)

Posted by timothy on from the also-the-return-of-velcro-shoes dept.

An anonymous reader writes: We all know the ill-fated history of IBM's OS/2 Warp, while some others may not know about the first OS/2-OEM distribution called eComStation. Now a new company called Arca Noae, not happy with the results of this last distribution, has signed an agreement with IBM to create a new OS/2 version. They announced a new OS, codenamed "Blue Lion," at Warpstock 2015 this last October; this will be based on OS/2 Warp 4.52 and the SMP kernel. The OS/2 community has taken this news with positivism and the OS2World community is now requesting everybody that has developed for OS/2 on the past to open source their source code to collaborate.

4 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. OS/2 was great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I never used anything past Warp 3, but it was great running Win 3 software alongside OS/2. This was also stated as its biggest downfall, although this is really overplayed. I don't think any party not inclined to develop for OS/2 was influenced by this at all.

    The DOS compatibility was exceptional.

    Wine is really good now. I don't see this impacting Linux development in the slightest.

  2. My goodness, what fortuitous timing! by kheldan · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Draconic, fascist Windows 10 comes out and Microsoft proceeds to try to force it down everyone's throat, and out of left field comes, after what seems like a geologic age, a new version of OS/2. Wow. Not sure what to think of that timing.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  3. As a Linux refugee, I'd seriously consider OS/2. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    I've been a long-time Linux user, but now that we're in the GNOME 3 and systemd era, my experience has been getting worse and worse. I basically just want what I had with Debian 7: a relatively modern Linux distro that's easy to update, that's pretty reliable, and that does what I need it to without getting in the way. Well, I upgraded to Debian 8 a while ago and things haven't been good. Systemd has caused me many problems. My desktop isn't as reliable as it was. Some of my laptop's functionality that used to work no longer works. The great experience that Linux once delivered for me has become seriously compromised to the point where I'm considering abandoning Linux. I've tried Slackware, but it's too primitive. I don't have that much time to spend just getting my system working. I've also tried Gentoo, but the compilation takes way too long.

    So until I heard about this, my only real options were FreeBSD, OS X and Windows 10. I don't want to have to buy new hardware just to run OS X, and I don't like what I've heard about Windows 10. I don't want to give up Linux, but all of the Linux distros and major projects are doing everything they can to make Linux a total non-option for me. So I think I'm going to try FreeBSD, and if that doesn't work out, then my only choice left will be OS/2. I hope that this company can do great things with it because it's getting to the point where it may be my only option for an operating system that actually kinda sorta works!

  4. I liked OS/2 by Peter+H.S. · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The release is probably mostly for embedded use where OS/2 had quite some use since it was so much better and stable than contemporary MS Windows.

    I quite liked OS/2 in its time and found it very superior to contemporary Windows versions.