Xref: utzoo comp.windows.ms:11839 comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc:8947 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!mcnc!rti!bcw From: bcw@rti.rti.org (Bruce Wright) Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms,comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc Subject: Re: OS/2 2.0 is here! READ THIS, you'll be impressed Summary: OS/2, Xwindows, shrinkwrap Message-ID: <1991Apr23.153331.2211@rti.rti.org> Date: 23 Apr 91 15:33:31 GMT References: <1435@caslon.cs.arizona.edu> <1991Apr23.002101.14336@amd.com> Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC Lines: 44 In article <1991Apr23.002101.14336@amd.com>, phil@brahms.amd.com (Phil Ngai) writes: > bcw@rti.rti.org (Bruce Wright) writes: > >the marketplace). The high end is already owned by things like NeXT, > >and Unix with Xwindows and Motif. OS/2 V2.0 won't run on anything > > Get real. Who do you think will have shrink wrapped software first, > OS/2, which MS is pushing, or Unix, which (somebody?) is pushing. I'm not so sure Microsoft is pushing OS/2 all that hard. But not too many years ago they were pushing Xenix as a high end solution ... which didn't make very many shrink wrapped apps appear for it 8-). It's possible that talking about which of these systems will have shrink wrapped software first is talking about the null set. I'm not at all sure that whether software is shrink wrapped is the be-all and end-all, especially for high-end software. Even now for DOS, there are plenty of high-end packages that you rarely or never see on the shelf - the things you see on the shelves tend to be the very most popular (and relatively inexpensive) packages. The problem with OS/2 is that that niche may become permanently occupied by enhanced versions of Windows, which we know are going to appear over the next couple of years. From what I've heard of Windows 4.0, (due out in around a year or 18 months or so), it's not clear that there will be much room left for OS/2 between the Windows and Xwindows territory. In other words, the rest of the world - even within Microsoft - isn't sitting still waiting to see what's going to happen with OS/2. If it takes OS/2 (or any other product for that matter) too long to get its act together, other products will take its place and it will miss its market window. Permanently. I don't know if it's too late for OS/2, but it's getting late, and it will have to overcome both whatever technical problems may remain (it appears to be doing this, just taking a long time doing so), and overcome its poor perception in the market before something else comes along that doesn't have its bad reputation. I certainly wouldn't bet my life on the outcome either way. Bruce C. Wright