RE: OS/2 is FINALLY History (per IBM) :-(

I saw this on /. two days ago, then yesterday I got the other news item from
one of my buddies.


Mike Wills
iSeries Programmer
mnwills@taylorcorp.com
(507) 386-3187


-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Lewis [mailto:clewis@iquest.net]
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 8:54 AM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: RE: OS/2 is FINALLY History (per IBM) :-(


Well read this Mike, it's where I got it from:


-----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**********

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CNET's White Paper Directory features information on processors,
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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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