Re: Free OS/400 -- MIDRANGE-L



----- Original Message -----
From: "Nina Jones" <ddi@datadesigninc.com>
To: <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 6:31 AM
Subject: Re: Free OS/400


> if ibm wanted to make os/2 successful, first of all, they needed to let
the
> customer base know os/2 was better and why.
>  and offer real alternatives to make it the user's preferred operating
system.
> such as readily available and affordable commercial software that would
replace
> that sold for microsoft systems.

Oh, I could puke.

I know it isn't your fault, but this is the same stuff over and over.

IBM bought Lotus and forced Lotus to continue to produce an OS/2 version of
their suite. This is after IBM spent years funding joint venture projects,
like the one that produced WordPerfect for OS/2. IBM advertised. I remember
being a part of the BesTeam nationwide tour in Las Vegas were we
demonstrating a string of IBM products that all ran under OS/2. The phrase,
"A better DOS than DOS, and a better Windows than Windows" was coined by
IBM. IBM used to support OS/2 users groups to try to get grass roots efforts
to help. We did things like demo OS/2 to people in computer stores.

But there were a lot of factors that hindered this. It wasn't until after
the release of '95 that the Justice department took Microsoft to task for
forcing hardware vendors to bundle Windows on every machine.

Aside from that, when you wanted information on available operating systems,
where did you look? Like most people, nowhere. That's not a shot at you,
that is just how it is. For OS/2 to succeed, (too late!) it would have to be
able to be delivered by the same channels as Windows with the same level of
availability. Monopoly control of those channels makes that impossible.

I guess what I'm saying, in my own short tempered all disgusted way, is that
it was a big battle for that marketplace. Just like it is for the server
marketplace. That market depended on other markets (applications) just like
the server market does. It isn't just a matter of who makes the best ad. Nor
even who spends the most on promotion.

Just consider that when you are thinking of the future of the AS/400. IBM
can't save it with just another ad. If they could, they would. IBM doesn't
want to lose that revenue stream, either.

Chris Rehm
javadisciple@earthlink.net
If you believe that the best technology wins the
marketplace, you haven't been paying attention.


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