FW: CNET NEWS.CONTEXT: OS/2: The road not traveled -- MIDRANGE-NONTECH

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

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