If OS/2 Had Lived

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If OS/2 Had Lived

** This thread discusses the article: If OS/2 Had Lived **
A day in the afterlife: OS/2 wails endlessly "I could have been a contender. Damn that Microsoft". Fortunately for everyone else in the afterlife, OS/2 still mumbles, and, as a result, has no obvious support. What could sound like pesky noise if it came from someone else, just sounds like a person talking to an invisible buddy at a city street corner.

[B.Jones]

If OS/2 Had Lived

** This thread discusses the article: If OS/2 Had Lived **
The major cause of death for OS/2, IMHO, was the rabid zealotry of some of the people who controlled the support bulletin boards for it. I tried OS/2 Warp twice with little success. When I called IBM, I was told the best support was on the bulletin board site. I went there, explained the symptoms, and was immediately flamed by several people on the board. Apparently, my greatest sin was in comparing Warp to the Windows O/S already running, albeit with fairly frequent blue screens of death, on my machines. I was told to take Windows off the machine, then come back. I was told many, many times to RTFM, despite the fact that Warp had some of the worst documentation in the history of OS's. Last but not least, I was told by one of the gurus of that time, who claimed to be one of the developers of the OS, that I was obviously too stupid to run Warp, and should stick with Windows. Not once did I flame back, but the abusive posts kept coming for days. When I complained to the board moderator, he said that I was complaining about some of the major "benefactors" and promoters of OS/2, so I must have done something to provoke them. So, I removed OS/2 and waited for Microsoft to produce a Windows that worked 99% of the time, which they ultimately did. In short, OS/2's greatest enemies were the very human resources that IBM was counting on to provide grassroots promotion and support. I see the same zealotry to a much lesser degree among Linuxistas today, but nowhere near as nasty and virulent as that I experienced dealing with the OS/2 crowd.

[charles400]

If OS/2 Had Lived

** This thread discusses the article: If OS/2 Had Lived **
Why didn't they just call it "Demented" or "Twisted"? It is clear IBM was duped by Microsoft in the early days of development. What isn't so clear is how IBM let themselves get duped in the first place. So, I should stop worrying if OS/2 will ever run on AMD...?