link to original?

Story: Operating systems that time forgotTotal Replies: 8
Author Content
gus3

Feb 07, 2011
7:49 PM EDT
I'm not seeing the link on this story.
tracyanne

Feb 07, 2011
7:56 PM EDT
I've added a link, I think it's the right one.
gus3

Feb 07, 2011
8:15 PM EDT
Yup, thanks.
Bob_Robertson

Feb 07, 2011
8:41 PM EDT
Works for me.

The original has a problem, though, their slideshow isn't working. "image not found".

Oh well, one picture of OS/2 is all I need to run screaming.
Ridcully

Feb 08, 2011
7:22 AM EDT
Oddly enough, I did use OS/2 and although it wasn't for long, I did use it long enough to understand I was working with an operating system that was already a quantum jump in front of anything Microsoft could put out. I didn't persevere (application software just wasn't around) and that proved fortunate because I made the jump to Win98SE followed by RedHat Linux and then SuSE ~ and that proved the best result I could have wished for.

But there is one thing I will NEVER forget, and that is being personally showed the enormous potential of OS/2 by a person at the Queensland Museum (name not remembered) who was an expert in using the system. He could literally make OS/2 sit up and dance. Multitasking, video, etc. etc.......I recall his demonstration was totally brilliant - and I was so naive at that stage, I just didn't understand what I was being shown. One always looks back and regrets being younger and so stupid.

Ultimately, the problem for OS/2 (at least as I see it now) was that the developers then danced to Redmond's tune and software for OS/2 just didn't appear......Marketing. The thing was that (in my opinion, from what I saw) OS/2 had the potential to totally blow Windows away. IBM didn't move sufficiently, and the rest is history.

When you really boil it all down, very bitterly, marketing was Gate's forte. OS/2 was its first(?) major victim.
Bob_Robertson

Feb 08, 2011
9:21 AM EDT
> When you really boil it all down, very bitterly, marketing was Gate's forte.

Indeed. And "preinstallation" his stellar achievement.

> OS/2 was its first(?) major victim.

I would have said CP/M.

But certainly, they took what they learned with OS/2 and made it their own. "We are MicroBorg. You will be assimilated!"
steever

Feb 08, 2011
9:52 AM EDT
The story's from 2008!
bigg

Feb 08, 2011
10:36 AM EDT
> When you really boil it all down, very bitterly, marketing was Gate's forte.

I've heard that before, but I disagree. What he did so much better than others was he understood how to lock customers in to a product, then find ways to put that into practice. What I've read about OS/2 vs Windows was that Bill knew applications were the key, so he did what it took to get the developers. That combined with a personality that took joy in destroying others made him a great businessman.

The two products that have made Microsoft what it is (and what it is losing) are Windows and Office. Very few people have used them because of marketing. The vast majority have used them because they have been forced to do so, not because they think it's a better product.
kenholmz

Feb 09, 2011
2:31 AM EDT
@Ridcully, "stupid is as stupid does", but ignorance can be corrected with information and learning. Thus, I assume you were youthfully ignorant about OS/2, etc.

@Bob, as I am obsessively compulsively forced to repeat, the MicroBORG hive "queen" has turned his sites on education for assimilation. I do hope his philanthropic efforts do help someone and I hope they discover windows and office exist without the MS in front. And just how did the take ownership of common words, including the word "word". Assimilation, indeed!

2008? You mean I've been in a coma for more than two years. It all seems like only yesterday...

My Gnome is broken. Well, the apps don't respect the panels. They open with no window controls. Konsole takes the whole screen as its own. Actually, logging in as Root shows my user account has some broken control information. As it happens, LXDE is working well so it may be a while before I attempt to track down the offending lines. I suppose I could have deleted or renamed the control files in my home directory before I performed the latest install. It was because something broke that I decided to go with the openSuse beta. It has kept me off the streets. Of course, the original malfunction had a simple remedy but by the time I knew that I had killed a gnat with a shotgun. Still, I could never do all I have done with that other OS.

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