Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!linus!gatech!codas!karthur
From: karthur@codas.att.com (Kurt_R_Arthur)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Wendin-DOS
Message-ID: <1604@codas.att.com>
Date: 21 Jan 88 20:47:05 GMT
References: <460@wa3wbu.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T, Altamonte Springs, FL
Lines: 74

In article <460@wa3wbu.UUCP> john@wa3wbu.UUCP (John Gayman) writes:
> 
> 
>      I just read a blurb in the latest issue of PC Magazine about a new
> operating system called Wendin DOS. It is billing as a multi-user,
> multi-tasking operating system for the 80286 and 80386 that is 100%
> compatible with *all* exsisting MS-DOS programs and also breaks the
> 640K memory barrier. All for an un-heard of price of $99.00. Can this
> be true ? Anyone else heard of or used this O/S ?  It seems too good to
> be true but if it is, I think O/S 2 can kiss it good-bye.

I bought a "pre-release" version of Wendin Dos last year to participate in a
"find the most bugs" contest.  It is OK, but (at least the version I got -
remember it was beta) not everything I had ran.  These were all small, written
to hardware programs that I use daily, so (because I didn't have the time I
thought I would to find bugs) I ended up giving my copy away (ps: neither my
friend or I won the bug contest). 

Wendin also sells an Operating Systems Toolkit (with source) to let you design
your own OS.  You can just provide a shell, or really hack away at the kernel!

I think the idea is great, but Wendin (or anyone else, like PICK, THEOS or QNX)
will never make more than a (comparative) pittance for their OS because IBM
doesn't support them. IBM doesn't support a lot of OSs for several reasons,
including:

	1. IBM doesn't feel the OS will sell well.
	2. IBM thinks it will encroach on sales of larger,
	   more profitable systems.
	3. IBM doesn't have an affiliation with the vendor.
	4. The OS was developed (or largely influenced by)
	   a mainframe or mini-computer vendor.  If I am
	   IBM, I don't want to sell a VMS look-alike, because
	   the next time the customer buys a mini, they'll
	   look a lot harder at VAXen to reduce training costs
	   (and conversely, not look at my S/370 or System 3x).	

And...., when IBM doesn't support something in a market it dominates, almost
no one will buy, sell or use that product, regardless of its technical ability.

I mean, put yourself in the shoes of a MIS director, or small-business person:
would you want to take a chance on something that by definition cannot be
fully compatible (because IBM & MS won't give out all their secrets - any one
of which they could decide to use at any time)? 

Or, look at a computer store manager: are you going to stock a program that 
most people have never heard of? or push it hard if you do?  You'll incur a
cost to your sales staff teaching them at least the basics of the system for
demos, and leave yourself wide open to problems if the system doesn't work?

Or, look at a developer: will you expend effort to support a trivial market-
share OS?  No, so the OS will never get that one application that forces 
people to buy the product.  Remember a couple of axioms that most computer
users abide by:

	1.  The OS should be as simple as possible (CPM & MS-DOS are
	    load-&-go: you can tune them, but they're very simple to
	    use and learn.  UNIX is much more powerful, but a bitch 
	    for a non-DP type to learn & use: it's definitely not 
	    a load & go.

	2.  The OS is only there cause it's needed to run my application.
	    If Lotus had decided to write 123 to IBM's flavor of CP/M in-
	    stead of MS-DOS, Microsoft would be in the same boat as Wendin
	    is now ( and DR would be in the driver's seat!).


I'm sorry this kind of rambled, but I'm in stream of consciousness mode!

To recap: yes, Wendin-DOS looks really great, but it will never kill OS/2.


Kurt Arthur
Software Services of Florida, Inc.