Last year at this time I talked about IBM's recently published
OS/2 Warp Strategy for 2000 which, at least, gave OS/2 users a glimmer
of hope that IBM hadn't totally abandoned the product yet. The strategy
was subsequently updated last September to reflect the pending release
of the ConveniencePaks which were released with a dull thud. Since then
IBM has been mum about any product plans or news to that effect. Perhaps
the biggest news regarding PC operating systems is the pending release
of Windows XP by Microsoft on October 25th (Big Whups!)
So, is there really any serious development work going on with OS/2? Maybe. The
IBM Software Choice Catalog indicates something is going on; several
developments have been introduced this past Spring:
-
IBM OS/2 Warp Developer Kit, Java(TM) 2 Technology Edition, Version 1.3 was updated on
April 3rd. Version 1.3 incorporates the latest in performance and function. IBM's Developer Kit
enables you to create stable Java applications. Features like Swing, JAAS, and RMI-IIOP have been
built into this release.
- IBM Web Browser
was introduced March 20th. The browser is based on Netscape's open source project - Mozilla
(Netscape v6.01) providing XML 1.0 support. In addition, it includes updated Internet standards
support and features such as: HTML 4.0 (W3C standard), DHTML, DOM 1.0, JavaScript 1.5 (ECMAScript),
XML 1.0, Cascading Style Sheet level 1, Cascading Style Sheet level 2 (partial support), and
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) version 3.1
-
IBM HTTP Server for OS/2 was updated March 29th, representing a web server based on the Apache
Web server. IBM HTTP Server provides support for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) using 128-bit
encryption and includes a loadable module that enables you to use IBM HTTP Server as the web server
for WebSphere(R) Application Server 3.02.
-
IBM Networks Primary Logon Client 4.4 for Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 Professional was
updated February 5th; this is an e-business feature, allowing Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 clients and
Windows 2000 Professional clients to use OS/2 Warp Server for e-business and DCE Cells for logon and
resource access.
-
TCP/IP Version 4.3 for OS/2 Warp Server for e-business was also updated February 5th and
provides enhancements to the TCP/IP stack that include multiple LAN adapter support, token ring
backup support, Intel PreBoot eXecution environment (PXE) 2.1 support, spam (unsolicited e-mail)
prevention, and FTP data transfer improvements.
These are nice, but modest, improvements over the product and are available to Software
Choice subscribers (the "free lunch" is definitely a thing of the past). However, there
is nothing of major substance here. And IBM's continued failure to communicate with its
customers has grown annoying. As customers, we would like to either see the "OS/2 Warp
Strategy for 2000" web page either updated, say for the year 2002 (after all, we're
already half way through 2001), or taken down.
WARPSTOCK
The next OS/2 Warpstock User Conference
has been scheduled for October 6th-8th this year in Toronto, Canada. This is an excellent
selection as Toronto is one of the finest cities in North America, with excellent transportation
and home to many OS/2 aficionados. Even better, the Warpstock Board of Directors is looking
further down the road by soliciting bids for the following conference, Warpstock 2002, which will
be held sometime around October 2002. Groups wishing to host Warpstock 2002 should indicate
their intent to bid
by sending an e-mail to bids@warpstock.org by June 1st,
2001. IBM may not have an OS/2 strategy, but at least Warp users know what they are doing.
Keep the Faith!