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Here is where I got it...


-----Original Message-----
From: CNET News.com
[mailto:Online#3.32536.32323837343236.1@newsletter.online.com]
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 8:17 AM
To: clewis@iquest.net
Subject: CNET NEWS.CONTEXT: OS/2: The road not traveled

CNET | News.context

The pundits' take on the hottest trends and events affecting
business and technology.

December 12, 2002

OS/2: The road not traveled

When word came down this week that IBM had finally, officially
and belatedly nailed shut the coffin on supporting its OS/2
operating system, I couldn't help wondering what might have
been, had Big Blue chosen to fight it out.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=4a-HcgUIPp80hIp-2RxhEgyVhIhKxsR

The OS/2 saga is fated to go down in the annals of great lost
causes. I personally loved the product, but was part of a
distinct minority. By the time Chairman Lou Gerstner arrived on
the scene at IBM, Microsoft's Windows had amassed a virtually
insurmountable lead in market share among operating systems.

No sentimentalist, Gerstner chose to cut IBM's losses and
concentrate the company's attention on more profitable software
projects.

I recently had a chance to ask Gerstner whether he had any
regrets on his decision to back away from OS/2. My question:
When it came to a feature comparison, wasn't OS/2 actually the
better product and mightn't IBM have found a way to avoid a rout
by Microsoft during the browser wars?

"Didn't matter when the other guy had 95 percent market share,"
Gerstner snorted. Next question.

It was spoken like a true numbers guy, and it's hard to
challenge the wisdom of his decision. Why pour money down a
sinkhole when there's virtually no chance it will change a
thing?

In an indirect way, OS/2 was an expensive lesson that reinforced
IBM's determination to go about software in ways that played to
its traditional strengths. OS/2 also forced the folks at IBM to
adopt a more-open systems attitude--not because they're nice,
but because they saw it as a way to defeat Microsoft.

You see the results today. The investments in DB2 database
software and WebSphere e-business software are paying off
handsomely. And instead of taking on Microsoft in the desktop
arena, IBM is concentrating on high-end software development and
enterprise applications where the margins are fatter and the
competition less severe. (Witness the company's planned
acquisition of Rational Software.)
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=60-oqItIsElhX07nYI0c1-2okkFL69R

In the end, it didn't make a whit's difference whether OS/2
bested Windows on its technological merits. Coulda, woulda,
shoulda don't cut it in a winning strategy, and IBM's brass
simply knew it was time to move on.

Charlie Cooper, Executive Editor/Commentary
mailto:charles.cooper@cnet.com

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<------------------------------------------->

Elsewhere in the last week in CNET News.context:

1. Sidestepping the new IT crisis

Internet veteran Marc Andreessen says that after the frenzy and
hype of the bubble, the IT world faces a new, uncertain future
which requires it reinvent itself--or suffer the consequences of
benign neglect.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=8a-3y3dQXnJ4H2TnEHHF3Qcvb6hZCyR

2. Escaping the PC sales pitch

When shopping for a new computer, congenital mall-haters such as
CNET News.com's Charles Cooper no longer have to grin and bear
outrageous incompetence. Consumers have an option--and it's only
a single keystroke away.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=9f-o7XMQ1JJEByvr0oc2FNHkqFcpWPR

3. An answer to Wi-Fi's discontents

On his monthly hunt to chronicle technology's next big thing,
CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos examines Texas start-up's
prospects of rewriting the Wi-Fi landscape.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=b4-aJlbQ6ZFHbrsoA7r0gBuyUHzWwnR


*****************************also from CNET Networks**********

White papers to get your company into the black

As IT spending has slowed, IT managers are having to make
prudent purchasing decisions--even as the demands on their
infrastructure may be increasing. To help with tough choices,
CNET's White Paper Directory features information on processors,
memory components, database servers as well as other hardware.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=c9-3OZLQpgsZHJHS_Y7wV-ubrPvuVrR

**************************************************************


4. A high price for broadband

CNET News.com Washington watcher Declan McCullagh says the
politicians may finally succeed in funneling billions of dollars
into subsidizing high-speed connections next year--but only
through new tax-and-spend schemes.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=de-7tpkQMW5gphX52t_AGB4XNzjxjiR

5. Nano-hype and market reality

Sevin Rosen Funds' Daniel Leff writes that nanotechnology is
still maturing as a science, let alone a technology, and a
backlash against its over-the-top promises was entirely
predictable.
http://cl.com.com/Click?q=f3-LjwgQJOD8sjxIJzqON_k0IyjojlR

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Copyright 2002 CNET Networks, Inc. All rights reserved.




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