Xref: utzoo comp.os.msdos.misc:1900 comp.windows.ms:12225 comp.os.os2.misc:1192
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.windows.ms,comp.os.os2.misc
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!news
From: tom@mims-iris.waterloo.edu (Tom Haapanen)
Subject: Re: OS/2 2.0 is here! READ THIS, you'll be impressed
Message-ID: <1991May3.115757.508@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Sender: news@watserv1.waterloo.edu
Organization: University of Waterloo, WATMIMS Research Group
References: <19910502.141008@the-village>
Date: Fri, 3 May 1991 11:57:57 GMT
Lines: 29

> bchin@umd5.umd.edu (Bill Chin) writes:
>> What does this mean?  Clearly, for small developers and hackers,
>> Windows is currently the way to go.  With OS/2 2.0, Windows apps
>> *should* be able to run, so small programs and stuff of the like
>> would probably be built in Windows first.

margoli@watson.ibm.com writes:
> On the other hand, the company writing for OS/2 might hit the market sooner,
> since with the flat model they don't have to worry about dealing with segments
> and 64k limits.  Not to mention the fact that the native OS/2 app (running on
> OS/2) will be much faster than the Windows app (running either on OS/2 or on
> Windows).  Not to mention long filename support, extended attributes, etc.
> I know which one *I'd* buy.

That's from a user's viewpoint, though.  When you consider that there will
soon be 5 million Windows machines out there, and that OS/2 2.0 will only 
run on a 386 or better, you can bet that the number of OS/2 users will be
between 10% and 20% of the Windows users.  If I was starting development
on a new piece of software, I certainly would think twice about ignoring
80-90% of the market just for a small ("much faster"?  Well, everything is
relative, I guess) performance gain.  I could probably achieve at least
a similar gain by spending some time designing and optimizing the code well.

This is not to say that OS/2 isn't good, but market realities will dictate
that most development effort will be concentrated on Windows apps, especially
since they will now also be able to run on OS/2.

[ \tom haapanen --- university of waterloo --- tom@mims-iris.waterloo.edu ]
[ "i don't even know what street canada is on"               -- al capone ]