Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!crdgw1!uunet!bywater!arnor!ibmman!larrys
From: larrys@watson.ibm.com (Larry Salomon, Jr.)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: OS/2 verses DOS environments.
Message-ID: <1991Apr12.123559.19640@watson.ibm.com>
Date: 12 Apr 91 12:26:45 GMT
References: <1991Apr10.155238.8773@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU>
Sender: larrys@ibmman.watson.ibm.com
Reply-To: larrys@yktvmv
Organization: IBM Research
Lines: 26
News-Software: NewsKit 1.2 - LaMail
Nntp-Posting-Host: ibmman

In <1991Apr10.155238.8773@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU>, etryon@NPIRS.Purdue.EDU (Earl Tryon ) writes:
>
>
>Does anyone have advice on the imortance of OS/2 verses DOS
>operating systems??  Can OS/2 be ported to a DOS machine to run
>software designed for the OS/2 operating system??  If I buy a
>less expensive DOS 386 machine, will I be unable to run future
>OS/2 programs??  Is it important to buy computer that will run
>OS/2 software??

OS/2 programs, if originally designed for OS/2 alone, generally cannot be
ported to DOS.

If OS/2 2.0 decides to support clones, then I suppose the answer is yes.
However, I don't know if IBM has committed 2.0 to that goal.

The computer you should buy depends on your needs:  if you want to run
Vanilla DOS, the buy a vanilla machine.  However, if you wish to run
Windows or (preferably) OS/2, then you should get a machine that can run
Windows or OS/2 *well*, that is a 386.

Cheers,
Larry Salomon, Jr. (aka 'Q')
OS/2 Applications and Tools
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, NY