Xref: utzoo comp.windows.ms:11736 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:8841
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!csri.toronto.edu!wayne
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc
From: wayne@csri.toronto.edu (Wayne Hayes)
Subject: OS/2 2.0 is here!  READ THIS, you'll be impressed
Message-ID: <1991Apr21.135534.724@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
Organization: CSRI, University of Toronto
Date: 21 Apr 91 17:55:35 GMT
Lines: 67


Here's a summary of the summary of OS/2 2.0 that was presented to the media
last week.

The unnofficial motto is "A better DOS than DOS, a better Windows than
Windows, and a better OS/2 than OS/2."

They finally got DOS compatibility big time.  You can run multiple DOS
boxes simultaneously, and they can even be different versions of DOS!
(Need to run an old spread sheet that only runs under DOS 1.1?  No

3.0 in 386 enhanced mode), and in the demo each DOS box had 620K free
*after* (yes, that's AFTER) a multitude of device drivers were loaded.  And
of course they can be cutted from / pasted to.

Not enough?  How about being able to run Windows 2.x and 3.x programs
NATIVELY?  (ie, *without* starting up a DOS box).  And of course it runs
them pre-emptively and makes them look like any other OS/2 2.0 application.
And no more dreaded Unrecoverable Application Errors.  This gives OS/2
access to the multitude of decent apps for Windows 2.x and 3.x.  And with
a decent, *efficient* scheduler.  (Downloading at 9600bps on my 33MHz 386
takes 30% of my processor time under Windows 3.0!  It shouldn't take more
than 5%.)

Not enough?  How about being able to run OS/2 1.x 16-bit apps side by
side with your 32 bit 2.0 apps (and the Windows and DOS apps)?

Not enough?  How about a new file system (HPFS == High Performance File
System) that will banish the FAT forever?  It has better disk usage
(blocks only 256 bytes), better allocation (idle time arranging of blocks
into contiguous chunks), better error-recovery (I've shut off my machine
*many* times without doing a proper shutdown and *never* lost a file),
better performance (due to the above and fancy buffering).

Not enough?  How about a price of $150 US for the standard edition?  In
a box about the size of MS-DOS (no more hernias carrying OS/2 home)?  How
about an upgrade price of $99 for registered DOS and OS/2 1.0/1/2 users?
How about a FREE upgrade for registered OS/2 1.3 owners?

Big Blue has finally come home with OS/2 2.0.  Time to upgrade your DOS
or Windows 3.0 box!

In the demo given to the media, they had OS/2 2.0 running with multiple
versions of DOS running a communications program doing a transfer, a midi
program playing some music, a couple Windows 2.x and 3.x apps, a couple
OS/2 1.x apps, and of course some 2.0 apps, all on a 2 Meg laptop!  (I
haven't seen the demo or the video of it, I've only seen it described.
I presume only about half of the things mentioned above were running
concurrently.  But I could be wrong -- ie, too conservative.)

How do I know all this?  I'm working as a Co-op student at IBM Canada
this year (and yes, all the info above is public now so [I hope] I can
broadcast it).  Let me tell you it has some of OS/2's most vociferous
critics INTERNALLY saying things like "I'm finally proud to be an IBMer
again."  IBM is admitting it's made some big blunders with OS/2 in the
past, and they're really trying hard to change that.  Most important
is the real change that's happenning inside; but most critical to the
business, it's trying to convince the world that these changes are real.

Note that I don't want to start a flame war.  (Oh well.  At least I tried
to stop it.)  This is just very exciting news for a frustrated Unix user
who's sick of DOS and crashing windows at home.
-- 
NOTICE: Due to the complexity of nearly all topics, the opinions expressed
above are in continual process of formation and may be changed without notice.

Wayne Hayes     INTERNET: wayne@csri.utoronto.ca        CompuServe: 72401,3525