OS/2

OS/2 is a Operating system created by Microsoft and IBM, which then was developed by IBM only. The name OS/2 means Operating System/2 ( operating system means operating system in French), and it was selected because OS/2 was presented as being the operating system to preferably use for the range of PC of second named generation of IBM IBM Personal System/2. The first version (without Graphical interface, 16 bits, Multi-task, etc) left in December 1987. Currently, IBM does not market any more OS/2 and the company stopped its catch of load since the December 12th 2006.

Initial ambition of IBM

OS/2 was initially to be carried on all single-user IBM architectures, including the work stations. There existed some time a version of OS/2 for the PC/RT like, later, for RS/6000 (platform PREP and not CHRP, which made withdraw the system of the catalog a few weeks after its exit).

Following the rupture with Microsoft, OS/2 was then sold only by IBM until the medium of the Années 1990; no new version appeared after 1996 (the positioning of Windows being too strong), but IBM continued to update it until in 2003 for its customers. Today, a small community always fights to do it perdurer.

History

1987: OS/2 1.0

The very first version of OS/2, fruit of a collaboration between IBM and Microsoft is the 1.0. It leaves on December 8th, 1987. It does not have an graphical interface.

Jerry Pournelle, of Byte, described as an error of Marketing that IBM puts its OS at 4 times the price of DOS whereas no immediate benefit can make profitable this Investissement for the user. By misfortune for the product, the period 1987-1988 also corresponds to a flight of the prices of the Random access memory which until now had always dropped (and will lower again only a few tens of month afterwards).

1988: OS/2 1.1

OS/2 1.1 leaves to Halloween 1988. This new version has a Graphical interface, Présentation Manager. It also supports the discs of more than 32 Mo.

1989: OS/2 1.2

With OS/2 1.2 left to COMDEX 1989 appear the Langage of script REXX and new the Filesystem HPFS. HPFS (High Performance Spins System) offers a more effective storage of the files. HPFS is a little the half-brother of NTFS : they carry same the " partition id" 0x07 in the table of partitions. Moreover, HPFS authorizes file names of more than 8+3 characters.

1991: OS/2 1.3… and Microsoft which from goes away

In 1991, IBM leaves OS/2 1.3, which brings light a amélioration : Standard Adobe Manager. But the most important news is that Microsoft gives up the OS/2 project. However, Microsoft continues the development individually of what then is called OS/2 3.0 and which will become Windows NT. On its side, IBM continuous to develop OS/2 2.0 but no coming out date announces. The situation is such as an article of the Wall Street Journal proclaims the death of OS/2.

1992: OS/2 2.0

Announced like " has better Windows than Windows " and " has better DOS than DOS " by IBM, OS/2 2.0 in 32 bits leaves finally. It supports applications OS/2 32 and 16 bits, Windows 3.0 (but not the three modes of Windows 3.1), and DOS. It makes it possible to make turn several sessions DOS simultaneously without the crash landing of one of the sessions not influencing the others.

OS/2 2.0 also uses a new graphical interface: the Workplace Shell. At that time, the great majority of the specialized magazines considers that OS/2 is much more stable than Windows and several large companies use it for their strategic data (when they do not use UNIX)… But of number and quality of the software applicatifs, Windows now had a good length in advance on OS/2. That was determining in the choice of the small users.

The importance attached by Microsoft to the quality of its professional police forces more also marked that the approach object of OS/2 (in OS/2 when anything was moved, file or application, all the short cuts referring itself were put to it automatically up to date).

1993: OS/2 2.1

In May 1993 leaves OS/2 2.1. Faster than OS/2 2.0, it also supports the format of Font face TrueType.

1994: OS/2 Warp 3.0

In October 1994 leaves OS/2 Warp 3.0. It includes TCP/IP out of standard, as well as a complete set of application S called IBM Works.

Some reasons of the failure of OS/2

The engine passed before the body

Culture of IBM (in the laboratories, not in the commerciales teams;!) was a culture of hacker S . The teams of OS/2 focused themselves on the robustness of OS: all the more difficult to ensure that the direction of IBM had imposed that OS/2 turned on Intel 80286, whose architecture perfectly unsuited to the frequent passages between modes was protected (system) and reality (applications DOS): it was necessary, to pass by again in real mode, to carry out with each Commutation of context a hot restarting, with an indicator of mode positioned in a rocker CMOS of the microcontrolor of the keyboard! The noise ran to IBM that a third of the code of OS/2 was used to circumvent the bugs various versions of the 80286 .

N the other hand, little care was brought to appearance, for example the font faces , in which however IBM had excellent experience with its électrocomposeuse 4250 developed with Sindelfingen; the police forces of the graphical interface, resulting from Windows 2, were very far from having typographical quality, giving to OS/2 a pace of system amateur compared to Macintosh, even in Windows 3.0 with Standard Adobe Manager, or 3.1 (TrueType), with the impeccable presentation.

The situation was however unusual for IBM supposed knowledge that to sell a computer the presentation is an important thing (the costume three-roomed flat carried a long time by its commercial was a subject of joke in the Unix mediums).

Undecided customers

A great consecutive confusion with architecture PS/2 reigned at the companies customer at the beginning: Would OS/2 being conceived to use new the Advanced BIOS of PS/2 (ABIOS), function without encumbers on the IBM machines equipped with an old BIOS, and moreover more equipped with a different drunk? Quid of the machines of competition? Deprived on their side of technical information, the commercial ones of IBM cannot answer, and the customers differ their decision consequently to pass to OS/2, to keep rooms for maneuver. The forecasts in 1987 of the cabinets of futurology announcing that two thirds of the machines will be in OS/2 into 1992 will remain dead letter.

Serious error of marketing of IBM

The public could still have passed on these defects and have tested OS/2 as normal successor of DOS (its name interns had been besides some time DOS 5 , without relationship with DOS 5 which followed), but IBM made an enormous error of Marketing by selling it 4 times the price of DOS. The jump was too large to be accepted by customers of private individuals and small companies, and IBM marginalized itself still a little more while Windows (invoiced DOS separately) announced a cost which was less than half that of its competitor.

This error was stigmatized by Jerry Pournelle, talented technical writer of the review BYTE . The service marketing of OS/2 did not know, did not want or could not (because the requirements of margins of the head office were severe, and the share returning at Microsoft important) take its advice.

As for Bill Gates, he declared with the press: “Oh, we do not seek to kill OS/2, on the contrary! We touch more money for each OS/2 installed that for each Windows installed, you know! ”

Clever blows of Microsoft

After 1990, Microsoft ingénia to promote its Windows product with the detriment of OS/2.

The OS/2 interface was discredited like “too complicated” compared to that of Windows 3.1. In fact, this interface resembled much that of Windows 95 - and due since, there too, it was Microsoft which had conceived this interface mainly, but Microsoft kept this new interface under the elbow…

… and pre-announced Chicago (Windows 95 code name) in the same weeks which followed the availability of a layer of perfect emulation of Windows 3.1 in OS/2 2.0. There still, the OS/2 emulation made certainly him, in accordance with the promise of IBM, better Windows than Windows (in particular by the use of the Multitâche)… but it was not more the good version of Windows . IBM was once more marginalized, and Windows 95 interfaces it encensée where that of OS/2 had been décriée.

Microsoft had a stroke of genius : to announce that for Windows 95 three additional keys would be necessary (what was inaccurate, but like produces it was not launched, nobody could not the knowledge): the keyboard S with 105 keys instead of 102 (in the French-speaking countries; 104 instead of 101 in the United States) are reflected to flower, and the three additional keys did not have a use in OS/2, revealing it like an OS already exceeded .

In addition, two of these keys had the Windows logo, with the image of the keys “apple” of Apple. Bill Gates marked his territory thus by pointing out in a persistent way that the PC was a machine to make turn Windows before anything else.

OS/2 today

The essential interest of OS/2 today (2004) is that nobody has really competence of penetration on this system, nor does not seek any considering its not very widespread character. That makes it appreciate for critical applications not asking for the use of recent peripherals, in particular in the field of the safety network (practically with parity with Novell).

A semi-official quotation

“ the battle of the work station is far from being finished. When the head office includes/understands the power of Linux, it will start to call it OS 3 ” was a frequent joke in the mediums UNIX of IBM about 1995. No one then did not imagine all the same that this last OS would become less than five years later the spearhead of the marketing of this company, and less still than it would manage in 2004 the more powerful machine of this time.

The death of OS/2 (2005)

IBM announced the final adoption of OS/2, planned for on December 23rd, 2005. The support was stopped in December 2006. An opening (and publication) of the code, required by several users and in particular the faithful ones of os2world.com could not bear its fruits, in particular because of the origins of OS/2: an important part of the code had been developed indeed by Microsoft and it would have been extremely expensive to seek to locate it and extract it.

For the continuation of the history, to see the articles Linux, KDE, GNOME and ReiserFS.

The phantom of OS/2?

The name of OS/2 belongs from now on to the past, but a product named '' ecomstation '' born at the same moment in greatest discretion resembles to him very curiously from all points of view. One knows little thing the company which markets it, '' Serenity Systems '', but double presence of famous Rexx of Mike Cowlishaw and the terminology Workplace Shell , as well as the integrated support of all the OS/2 programs suggests that it established technical and commercial agreements with IBM.

The names of the first level of the tree structure of this system are besides those of IBM for OS/2: PSCRIPT, TCPIP, IBMCOM, MPTN, BOOTIMGS, OS2, PSFONTS, LANGUAGE, ECS and MMOS2.

An unexpected argument of the company is the absence of concern to be had concerning the viruses (in fact, very little of hacker S and thus also of cracker S invested to be formed on the interns of OS/2). CD of demonstration is downloadable without expenses since the site.

References

Minasi Mark et al.: Inside OS/2 Warp 3.0 - ISBN 1-56205-378-7

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