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From: rdippold@cancun.qualcomm.com (Ron Dippold)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.desqview
Subject: Re: (Did you say Os/2 ?) (was Re: DV386 HOROR STORIES?)
Message-ID: <1991Jun26.030302.29193@qualcomm.com>
Date: 26 Jun 91 03:03:02 GMT
References: <1991Jun21.163305.7512@watmath.waterloo.edu>
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In article <1991Jun21.163305.7512@watmath.waterloo.edu> nmouawad@watmath.waterloo.edu (Naji Mouawad) writes:
>
>I saw a presentation of Os/2 here at Waterloo.
>Now, I am not particularly fond of the beast, but the following caught
>my attention:

I'm running a beta version, and it does all it advertises.  However, it IS
a beta version and occasionally Bad Things happen.  But it's still more
reliable than Windows.

>  -Runs any dos program in true protected mode. Meaning that no
>   application can freeze the system if it hangs. The reason being
>   that the OS is protected from all applications.

I had one go to never-never land and appear to hang the system.  Then a
box appeared saying "This application is not responding to system requests.
It will be terminated." or something similar, and everything was okay again.

>  -Os/2 will give Dos-apps the files in the 8.3 format only. So,
>   if you do a dir in a dos shell you'll see only the files that
>   are fat-compatible, even though Os/2 is using the HDLL (?).

It uses a high-performance filing system _or_ the FAT system.

>  -A dos session has 633k of free memory.

True.  And that's with all drivers loaded.

>  -Runs Windows 2 and 3 apps unchanged.

True.  It also runs Windows apps under Windows _faster_ than Windows does.
Start Windows in a OS/2 window, start a program, it's faster than running
it under Windows.

>  -requieres 10 mgs of Disk space :*( and at least 6 mgs to
>   run confortably.

That's true.  10 megs is a bit low, I'd say about 15.

>  -It might not be that slower than Dv because it takes advantage
>   of the 32-bit nature of the 386. 

It's faster.  One big improvement is with the floppy disks.  With DesqView
(which I still use extensively, until OS/2 2.0 is out of beta) accessing a
disk brings the system to a crawl because it's cooperative multitasking.
With OS/2 you can't even tell you're accessing the floppies, everything else
continues to run fast.

>  -nice new shell, kind'a mac-looking.

You have three options - Windows looking, OS/2 1.3 looking, or SAA looking.

>So what you might say ? This is a Dv group ! 
>
>I know, but I would like to know how many of you would
>give Os/2 a look or a shot, or if some of you did hear 
>infos conserning Os/2 which are not as rosy as the one
>I am presenting.

If you have the computer for it, it's the way to go.

-- 
Standard disclaimer applies, you legalistic hacks.     |     Ron Dippold