[Am-info] Re: adopting alternative OSes

[madodel@ptdprolog.net]

In <C3021D9F-78CD-11D7-B4BD-003065A24662@accidentalexpert.com>, on
04/27/03 at 09:31 AM,
   Mitch Stone <mitch@accidentalexpert.com> said:

> don't question for a moment doubt IBM's mismanagement of Warp -- in 
>fact from what I have heard (mainly on this list), this seems to be one 
>of the great missed opportunities in recent technology history. My  point
>being still that it takes much more than a few millions and a  good
>product to crack the Microsoft hegemony in the OEM market (ask  Jean
>Louis Gasse). You can't say that IBM did not try at all -- they  had the
>product, the PC manufacturing arm, the cash, and most  importantly, the
>brand name. 

It was the IBM PC Manufacturing division which was one of the most vocal
critics of OS/2 within IBM.  They only wanted to support Microsoft
products.  You can't buy an IBM PC or laptop with OS/2 preloaded for years
now.  And the IBM name attached to OS/2 tended to sink the chances of OS/2
to ever be seriously adopted as an OEM operating system for other PC
manufacturers.  And finally to bring this back on topic a bit, Microsoft
made damn sure they sabotaged any chance for OS/2 to compete in the OEM
market.  There are still several fake OS/2 users hovering within the OS/2
Usenet groups to attack anyone that actually tries to do anything positive
in the OS/2 usability area.  Some are blatantly pro-Microsoft (like
Microsoft needs any evangelising) and some purport to be OS/2 users but do
every thing they can to sabotage new development.  They all deny being on
Microsoft's payroll, and some may be genuine nutcases, but its weird how
they all come out of the woodwork whenever a new release is pending. 
There is even a web site devoted to trying to explain some of these
nitwits.

Mark

>Their failure to put all of these elements  together suggests
>that the problem of succeeding in this market is  greater then you may
>assume. Rightly or wrongly, IBM calculated that  they were not likely to
>succeed.

-- 

 From the eComStation Desktop of: Mark Dodel

Warpstock 2002, In the home of OS/2 - Austin, Texas.  Were you there?   http://www.warpstock.org

For a choice in the future of personal computing, Join VOICE - http://www.os2voice.org

  "The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself.   That in it's essence, is Fascism - ownership of government by an individual, by a group or by any controlling private power." Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Message proposing the Monopoly Investigation, 1938