The purpose of this section is to provide a forum for our readers to voice their opinions and thoughts on issues related to OS/2. If you have an observation, concern, gripe or compliment regarding something, please feel free to send them to the OS/2 CONNECT editor for inclusion in this section, at: Title & Publisher or complete the form at the bottom of this page.
The opinions expressed in this section are those of the individual writer and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editor or publisher of OS/2 CONNECT. NOTE: Letters may be edited for inappropriate or offensive language.
It is only recently that I discovered the WAV files hidden in the images at the top of your pages (and on the Tampa Bay Users Group page). Nice touch! The Philadelphia Area Computer Society OS/2 Special Interest Group has recently opened a web site at http://www.phillyos2.org/. We maintain a link to this e-zine as well as to the Tampa Bay group's site.
I just wanted to respond to Donn Atkins' letter, on a point-by-point basis. I feel that IBM did not truly address the issue. For the past year, they have been regurgitating the same rhetoric in response to questions for which they are not willing to provide true answers. Mike Lawrie did the same thing at the POSSI meeting last month.
1. OS/2 Priority List - I couldn't find this list anywhere, but I do remember seeing it a while back. I can say from memory that the list that Donn Atkins gives does not match the OS/2 Priority List very well. This is typical IBM: they take a question, and instead of answering it directly, they tell us something related that we're supposed to accept. Instead of answering the specific question, they over-generalize it and give us a generic answer.
2. OS/2 Developers - "Another area of concern expressed in the editorial is OS/2 developers. IBM still welcomes developers who wish to write native OS/2 applications. However, we are embracing Java as the best way to provide new and exciting applications for all OS/2 users." The rest of the text goes on about Java and OS/2.
Again, Mr. Atkins has avoided answering the specific question. We asked about developing native OS/2 apps, but Mr. Atkins is more interested in non-native apps. Contrary to what he thinks, very few people consider a "Java application" to be an "OS/2 application". As far as I'm concerned, IBM did not answer this question. I want to know what IBM is doing for developers of native OS/2 applications, not Java apps.
3. OS/2 User Group support - I admit, IBM does support user groups better than most people think. Mr. Atkins said, "IBM does continue to support end user activities such as the upcoming Warpstock." I certainly hope that IBM doesn't do at Warpstock what they have been doing so far. Warpstock is about a class of OS/2 customers to which IBM has essential said, "we don't want you." I truly believe that IBM will present topics at Warpstock that go against the purpose of Warpstock. They will use this forum for promoting their vision of OS/2, without any regard to the target audience.
4. IBM's direction - "As you can see, all OS/2 activities are in complete alignment with our overriding network computing strategy. This is a strategy that we announced over one year ago and we have been consistent in all of our business activities since that time."
The whole point behind the OS/2 CONNECT editorial and other complaints of OS/2 users is that IBM's direction is not to our satisfaction. IBM is making it sound as if we both want the same things from OS/2, but nothing could be further from the truth. IBM needs to stop treating us like children, and either address our concerns, or stop pretending that they are addressing them.
I'm so angry and frustrated with Mr. Donn Atkins' response in the October issue of OS/2 CONNECT, I don't know where to begin. I guess I ought to start by saying that after reading his insipid, insulting response, I have decided to cut my losses and abandon OS/2 (and IBM). SPG took a lot of heat when it stopped development of ColorWorks for OS/2. But given what IBM had said, SPG had no rational choice. Nor do I. [My condolences to all the ISV's and shareware authors I had planned to support.] I feel like I've just been lectured to by our boy President, or worse yet, by our Vice President, as he condescendingly tries to tell me that what I know to be true isn't. I could have tuned in C-SPAN if I wanted to hear such political dribble. I feel like Alice in that Dilbert comic of September 28th, where she notes her pointy haired boss has entered that glazed eyed zone, where nothing you say is heard. One wonders why Mr. Atkins even responded to Tim's editorial? He certainly didn't respond to us, the end user. I guess it's obvious Mr. Atkins has found a home in Marketing. Dilbert's boss is alive and well at IBM. (Think he's a lawyer too?)
Maybe I'm especially frustrated, for I suspected it might end this way when I first invested in Warp. I've been in engineering for 20 years and have seen many IBM solutions at various companies. It seems an IBM trademark is to provide the most inane and most un-user friendly interfaces possible. It was clear to me then that IBM couldn't possibly be listening to its customers (i.e., IBM doesn't care), and I surmise it only succeeded then because it was the only game in town. (IBM is no longer the only game in town, and the next five years (read "NT") will tell if I'm right.) I was encouraged when Warp 4 came out, thinking things might be different, but I see I was wrong. I am now looking forward to either Linux (I just read it can run Win95 apps) or the BeOS (which is slated for the Intel platform this Spring) as an alternative OS.
There is ample evidence to show that IBM doesn't listen, doesn't get it, and fundamentally, DOESN'T CARE. Mr. Atkins' response proves Tim's original thesis that "IBM DOESN'T CARE." If you'll recall, what started this whole thing was that Tim solicited ideas for improving OS/2 from us, the end user, with the hope of passing this good information on to IBM for consideration. But no one at IBM was interested. To this day, NO ONE AT IBM IS INTERESTED! (I asked Tim if anyone asked to see the list, which has not been published for two months now.) This, despite the assertion by Mr. Atkins that IBM does "care about the needs of our customers." Ha! IBM, in it's typical NIH arrogance, has assumed that it knows what you, the poor, stupid customer, wants. Then he goes on to give us a feature list. I'll bet most of you are interested in JDK 1.1, Domino, and Primary Logon Client for WinNT right? Oh, and now that Corel has dropped their WP Suite for Java, I'll bet all of you were swayed by Mr. Atkins' statistics about how we all love Java. He may be pretty excited, but I'm not. (But I'm only a stupid, lowly customer.)
Further proof that IBM is out of touch with the individual customer is shown by Mr. Atkins' claim that IBM ran "consumer-focused" ads a few years ago. Yeah, focused like the Hubble telescope. We all saw how stupid those ads were - IBM doesn't have a clue about the consumer. (Fortunately, Microsoft suffers from this same malady.) As a minimum, they could've copied the Penzoil ads: "OS/2 Warp - ask for it by name."
From what I've read, to say that "IBM . . . support[s] end user activities such as . . . Warpstock" is an outright LIE! Warpstock is not receiving! support from IBM - it is a user-organized event. My understanding is IBM had to be dragged there, and is only coming grudgingly. I guess Mr. Atkins, like our Vice President, thinks we're idiots.
Typical of management that doesn't get it, Mr. Atkins gives us all the ol' Shareholder's report (like that's what we all want to hear), asserting that IBM's market share is growing. Maybe so, but I predict this is only a short term phenomena. While short term things phenomena make short term managers really happy as they fill out their short term P&L reports, I predict that IBM will fail in the future.
What IBM fails to recognize (and to their great credit, Intel did) is that this computer industry is no longer "trickle down," but "trickle UP!" It does not go from the Corporate Main Frame down, but from the Consumer Desktop UP! I'll bet that when Intel developed the first (then) very expensive Pentium, they expected only corporations would buy it. I'll bet they were shocked to find consumers buying them instead. There are now more Pentiums on home desktops today than on office machines. Intel has recognized this fact, and as a result has aimed their marketing, with all those cute TV ads, squarely at the consumer. They know that the technology trickles up! But IBM doesn't get it.
Similarly, Microsoft realizes that future sales are seeded with the home user. It was pure genius to give NT 4.0 the same interface as Win95. Microsoft realizes that it with everyone using Win95 at home, it's a natural for them to want to see it at work. It trickles UP! They train themselves at home, so corporations would be foolish to switch to a new OS that employees have to learn. Win95/NT is on everyone's lips, but no IS manager is going to think of OS/2. If he does, it's going to be a hard sell to the boss who's never heard of it. As the cliche goes, "Out of sight, out of mind."
We are a small company (nine people), the kind of company IBM does not seem to be interested in. We had the chance of meeting someone who knew OS/2 and we have been using it for the last two years with great joy. We use OS/2 native applications and DOS/Windows applications. We take care of business in financial difficulties. IBM should understand that small enterprises are keys to bigger corporations and not taking care of us is a big mistake that will ultimately destroy their medium and large enterprises hold.
We see Win95 in all the small enterprises that we are taking care of, and we can see how inferior this product is compared to OS/2. But it is everywhere. If you read the latest issues of FORTUNE Magazine, you will also see NT coming to medium and large enterprises. I hope JAVA will not turn into another PowerPC. Please IBM, put some big money behind OS/2, or your market will disappear.
I have been an avid OS/2 user for many years. It pains me to say that I am writing this from a Windows NT system, but the lack of WIN32s 1.30 support has forced us to remove OS/2 from about a thousand desktops in our organization. The catalyst for this migration was the arrival of several upgrades to WIN 3.1 apps that required the latest WIN32 code. Our appeals to IBM have been, and continue to be, ignored. Java is not the answer unless ALL the major vendors back it and release the software our organization requires. Corel has given up on the Java office suite, I suspect others will follow. It only requires a single vendor to release an application that requires WIN32 or WIN32s 1.30 that one of our medical staff has to have to do their job, and OS/2 is lost on the desktop for that user. For those who continue to use OS/2, I only hope that none of your users can choose their own applications, for if they can, I guarantee you that OS/2 is doomed in your enterprise. Maybe not tomorrow, but within the next year.
Well, it's nice to know that not everybody at PSP seems to be asleep at their trusty computers. I read Mr. Atkins' remarks with some amusement and quite a bit of anger. Do they really think at IBM that the end user (that's me, gentlemen) is unimportant and that only the Fortune 500 guys count? I believe that, if IBM cared to look at the development of OS/2 sales figures, they're in for a BIG surprise. It's entirely true that OS/2 doesn't have anywhere near the number of installed and PRODUCTIVE computers that WinDoze boast. Still and all, it is probably correct to say that it was the end user who gave OS/2 a boost when WARP was released. The niche character of OS/2 is IBM's fault, in my opinion. Here they had a really good advertising campaign going for WARP. What did they do? Why, they abandoned it and later did an abysmal jog of marketing OS/2. WARP V3 was, and WARP V4 is, an excellent platform - for games, among other things. Mr. Atkins says that that IBM is focussing on medium to large companies. Well, Mr. Atkins, I don't have the kind of change to buy a bank, for example, but I LOVE OS/2 - and I ditched the stuff that comes out of Redmond, WA, when OS/2 V2.1 appeared. I never looked back, never had any problems with the OS that I hadn't caused myself - and I solved them myself. Now you, and others at IBM tell me - and a host of other people who still believe in OS/2 - that we're not important? Who do you think bought the largest number of copies of OS/2? Somebody said that maybe IBM should sell (or give) OS/2 to an ISV for further development for the end-user market, someone else named a name. Looking at IBM's obsession with the big bucks, maybe they should seriously consider these proposals. I'm sure that Brad Wardell and his people would have an real foxy update to WARP out in no time. Why? Well, they seem to care about the users, you know, and they listen to what the little people say.
Dear Mr. Atkins,
I read your response to the OS/2 CONNECT article about OS/2.
I have been using OS/2 since the first 32 bit version came out (I'm an IBM mainframe guy and wanted flat memory).
I've developed some programs for OS/2:
* A Universal Command Language that can even generate Job Control Language for MVS Mainframes.
* A program that allows IBM 370 Mainframe Assembler code to run under OS/2.
These programs have taken years to develop, and - like all programs - will need to be updated and improved.
Unfortunately, Borland has dropped their support for OS/2 and that means that I am probably unable to sell the 370 Assembler program unless I convert to IBM's ALP program - which will take more months.
Also, within a week after getting OS/2 version 4, I reported some 10 bugs. In nearly a year, I have only had one problem fixed - presumably the others never will be.
To say I am disappointed is a vast understatement, and even letters to Mr. Gerstner seem to have been not followed up.
Warp 4 won't even connect to Win 95 properly.
If IBM won't even fix real bugs, what hope is there?
Cheers,
Clem Clarke
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
(clement.clarke@ibm.net or
clement.clarke@theshed.com.au)
P.S. - Just how many people are there working on bug fixes and support?
Maybe I am just clueless, but I think we are on the verge of another paradigm shift in the computing world, with IBM currently in the forefront. While IBM still has the chance to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, at least for IBM, if current trends keep going the way they are we are about to see the biggest shake up since the GUI interface. Some points to ponder, (as best as I understand them).
These and many other events and announcements point toward a future where JAVA based servers will be serving up applications, which can access data on the big iron, to browser based clients. Unless JAVA gets hijacked, this will mean that any client (Windows, LINIX, UNIX, OS/2, Be, etc.) with a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) built into it will be able to access applications running on any JAVA compatible server. For the interim, servers will have to provide legacy software support, but there is a growing momentum toward JAVA. This has the potential to completely shake up the market, just like what happened when applications went from DOS based to windows based. Many of the top DOS packages didn't do so well in the new environment, and many of the bloated windows packages will have a difficult time with the transition.
Some negative news:
IBM plans to charge somewhere around $250 for the client software and license (basically a stripped down Warp OS with built in browser and JVM), or about three times as much for windows and six times as much as for shrink wrapped LINIX. Real good chance will cause business folks to look elsewhere. Training for Warp engineers, at least initially will be limited.
Suggestions:
GETTING OS/2 ON MORE DESKTOPS
As an OS/2 user and a member of Team OS/2, I would like to see OS/2 become the standard for 32-bit, object oriented operating systems. For it to become a standard, more people need to become familiar with OS/2 and it's outstanding Workplace shell.
There are still millions of Windows 3.x users in the world. Microsoft is still trying to get these computer users to upgrade to Windows 95. I feel that they are going to have a difficult time getting these users to upgrade as they are confused with the differences between Win 95 and NT and are concerned with the costs involved with upgrading their operating system, software and hardware. These are the people I think that can be reached by IBM and sold on OS/2.
There is an IBM Employee Written Software download call Workplace Shell for Windows. It is a shell replacement for Program Manager that functions in most ways and has the look and feel of Warp 3.0. My idea involves the packaging of this shell replacement, updated to look like Warp 4.O, along with bitmaps and icons and a instructions on how to change object icons, put backgrounds in folders, use templates, etc. This documentation would not say anything about being like OS/2. Only that it has the look and feel of a new 32-bit operating system. After the user registers WPSFW, he can be sent an OS/2 upgrade offer explaining how the user can keep the look and feel of WPSFW while gaining a true 32-bit operating system and additional functionality.
This approach would gain access to these uncommitted Win 3.x users through the back door. For this to work, the package should be sold as cheaply as possible, making it an offer that they can't refuse. The software could be marketed a CD sized package in a counter display. It could also be included in the Java for Windows 3.x package that I heard was under development by IBM or as a part of the Lotus WordPro for Win 3.1.
I am sure that someone who has experience in marketing could come up with many ways of getting WPSFW out on the streets and make a little money doing it. With the number of Win 3.x users in the world, this approach to selling OS/2 has a great chance of succeeding.
Thank you for your time.
EDITOR's REPLY: Thanks for your note and the copy of the letter to Donn Atkins. I have been a big proponent of the WPSFW for a long time (you can download it from the Tampa Bay OS/2 Users' Group web site at: http://www.os2ss.com/connect/tboug/utility.htm
I have personally installed it on several of my friends' computers. They found it easy and intuitive to use.
I bounced the same idea to Ned Lauterbach a couple of years ago (Ned had Atkins' job back then). I received a nice but curt letter saying they had no interest in using the WPSFW. Maybe you'll have more luck than I did.
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