Re: OS/2 vs. Windows

[Randal Whittle <whittle@chaph.usc.edu>]

> > As I've stated before, I see no point
> > at all to having OS/2 on my machine just so I can run Windows-based
> > applications.  That's just dumb.
> 
> I'm not sure it is so dumb after all.  Just because most X86
> applications use the Windows ABI, doesn't mean that the Microsoft
> implementation of that ABI is the one that works best.  If OS/2 runs
> Windows apps better than Windows does, why not use it?

	But it doesn't!  You can't look at these things in a vacuum.

	Unless you have a compelling need to have pre-emptive
multitasking, OS/2 really doesn't offer any advantage at all (if you are
running Win apps).

	You can hardly get a 24-bit color (accelerated) video driver, it
didn't know what to do with my SyQuest removable drive, I couldn't get a
driver for my HP ScanJet IIc...and it ran my Windows apps still slower
than they ran under plain-wrap Windows (OS/2 1.3, 2.0, 2.1) (doubly-so
without the accelerated video).

	Now how useful is this really?

	Perhaps Warp/3.0 has rectified some of these problems--but who cares?
It still does little or nothing more for me than Windows ever did, and for
a lot more headaches to go through it all over again.  The reason I had
an interest in the Mac is to make my life a little simpler--OS/2 just
makes it still more complicated as a I go through endless searches for
patches, fixes, and drivers hidden somewhere out there in a world that
is *owned* by Microsoft.

	I don't intend to sound nasty, but is OS/2 going to spend the
rest of its existence running apps intended for other people's operating
systems?  If so, that's pretty sad--and says a lot about where OS/2 is
going (or *not* going, as the case may be).  It needs a killer app--if
it doesn't get one, it's going to be yet another operating system that
never really went anywhere, but inspired a very loyal following (does
the word "Amiga" mean anything to anybody?  Apparently even the
Video Toaster wasn't enough to save it).

	Now perhaps a PowerPC version will give OS/2 new life (whenever
the heck IBM and the boys ever get a non-Mac PowerPC machine out--apparently
Motorola has done it--but it's not running OS/2, but rather Windows NT).
But from the looks of things, AIX will have a better chance of taking
over the future desktop market (with PPC) than OS/2 will.

-----                                          ________________________________
Randy Whittle    whittle@usc.edu               |       Y'know, Tuna just      |
USC School of Business (Fight on, 'SC Trojans!)|    doesn't taste the same    |
  (My opinions are mine, but since I'm         |      since they took the     |
    right, they should be yours too.)          |          Dolphin out!        |
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