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

That is what I thought too, however M$ might have problems with that. Since
some of M$ core code might still be in OS/2.

...but since IBM isn't pulling OS/2. I guess one could only pray that
someday it is open-sourced.


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


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Waterbury [mailto:mark.s.waterbury@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 9:27 AM
To: midrange-l@midrange.com
Subject: Re: OS/2 is FINALLY History (per IBM) :-(


To all:

Perhaps if IBM Corp. had "open sourced" OS/2, as soon as it
became apparent that they had "lost the war" with Windoze, then
OS/2 might have gained a "grass-roots" following, and many people
could have contributed to its continued development, enhancement,
error corrections ("bug fix"), etc., as we see today in the Linux
community.

Perhaps we should all try to "lobby" IBM Corp. to do this now,
since IBM has decided to "withdraw" the product.

I contend that IBM should "open source" pretty much any IBM
Licensed Program Product (LPP) that IBM decides to "withdraw",
so their customers who depend on those products can choose to
continue to use and maintain it themselves, by obtaining the source
code.

Just my opinion; what's yours?

Mark S. Waterbury

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wills, Mike N. (TC)" <MNWills@taylorcorp.com>
To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2002 8:17 AM
Subject: 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
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> 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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>
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>
> 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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