Warpstock 97 is now history and from the initial reports I've read it was fairly successful with upwards to 400 or more enthusiastic attendees. It is quite a testament to a product like OS/2 when you consider how many users showed up on a weekend (on their own time) coming from both near and far to attend. I heard the administration of the conference was fairly smooth and the presentations were very informative. Conference organizers, all OS/2 users volunteering their time, should all be congratulated on a job well done. Now the next question is, "What about next year?" Although nothing definitive has been stated yet, scuttlebutt has it there could very well be a Warpstock 98. Read the Warpstock web page, http://www.warpstock.org/ for concluding remarks by conference organizers and digital pictures taken at the conference.
The significance of Warpstock and last year's "Connect the World with Merlin" is that the marketing of OS/2 to the SOHO (Small Office, Home Office) market is defaulting to OS/2 users with little support or encouragement from the vendor. Do not be surprised if a new organization emerges from the OS/2 user community offering to assume SOHO marketing rights from IBM. This is a good idea since IBM has repeatedly stated they are simply not interested in the SOHO market.
In terms of Win32 support for OS/2, perhaps the most encouraging news is "The Win32-OS/2 Project" (http://www.io.com/~timur/win32os2.html) headed up by Timur Tabi and a group of volunteer programmers. Basically, the project is concerned with developing a collection of freeware tools and DLL's that will allow an end-user to convert a Win32 (i.e. Win95/WinNT) program into a native OS/2 program, and then run that program under OS/2 without needing Windows or Win-OS/2 support installed. The project is still in its infancy, but the group has already translated some very simple programs like Notepad and Solitaire, see the Graphic of the Month section of OS/2 CONNECT for some examples. Look for more substantive results as early as next April.
Timur gave a presentation on the project at Warpstock and, as I've been told, it was one of the most well received sessions at the conference. The group's efforts should be applauded (and funded by IBM).
As you probably know, IBM's lack of interest in the SOHO market and support for Win32 has been widely discussed both here in my Editorials and the "Sound Off!" section of the newsletter. However, I read something in the Warpstock follow-up reports that disturbed me: according to Tom Nadeau's report:
"Mike Persell of IBM was the most down-to-earth guy I've ever met from a big company since Frank Ingari left Lotus. We had a 45-minute private chat and I'll spill the beans right now:
1. He's disappointed that we OS/2 supporters are so dependent on IBM for everything. 'Don't whine, don't beg, ASK and you WILL RECEIVE' was his message. In other words, we need to learn to develop serious business-case proposals for what we need from IBM, and stop whining and complaining. WE must make the first move, and Mike will go to bat for us."
I guess what disturbs me about this 'Don't whine, don't beg, ASK and you WILL RECEIVE' comment is that it is simply not true. Admittedly, nobody likes to listen to people harangue about problems, particularly vendors. But in contrast, people do not like it when they think their voice is not being heard. When we published the OS/2 Product Priority List a few months ago, where was IBM's response? The silence was deafening. It is my belief that IBM is simply not interested in suggestions for product improvement from its customer base. They have a bit of Microsoft's arrogance in that they believe they can dictate what the market wants which may explain why IBM provides superficial support for user group activities; after all, such coalitions establish a collective voice that IBM doesn't want to hear in terms of product development. By providing limited support to OS/2 user groups, IBM believes they can divide and conquer its customers.
IBM may not want to listen to their customers, but what about their shareholders? In discussing this with various people, I came up with an idea of petitioning IBM as shareholders to incorporate full Win32 support into OS/2. We could petition for something on a more grander scale, e.g., reorganize or sell off the PSP division, or radically alter their marketing policies towards OS/2 (see the Petition in the SoundOff section), but something as simple as Win32 support is much more definitive and easier to implement as a first step. To wit, I am establishing the following form to register disgruntled IBM shareholders, of which I am myself, who desire to have full Win32 support added to the operating system. If this stimulates sufficient interest, I'll publish the results in the next issue of OS/2 CONNECT.
To the Board of Directors of the International Business Machines Corporation (hereinafter "IBM"):
We, the undersigned IBM shareholders (current holders of IBM common stock traded as "IBM" on the NYSE), request that IBM's OS/2 operating system be modified to allow full support of the Win32 API, thereby enabling the use of programs written for this API to be executed under OS/2.
RATIONALE: OS/2 users want to use the same popular programs that all their friends and business associates are using NOW, not sometime in the future; unfortunately, these programs are not OS/2 or Java based programs, they are Win32 based. Providing Win32 support would make OS/2 the leading "integrating platform of choice," thereby providing the means to execute programs written for: DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, and Java. Such support would benefit both business and home users thereby enhancing its marketability.
Copyright © MBA 1997