In the meantime, I've been getting a lot of e-mail from readers who have been asking me where they can get their hands on OS/2 related software, either demonstration or full production versions. Whether you are a novice or expert OS/2 user, you will find the IBM Downloads web page and its related OS/2 Downloads page particularly useful, definitely worth "bookmarking". From these areas you can find most of the following OS/2 related download areas:

• Netscape Communicator 4.61 for OS/2 Warp - perhaps the most frequently used download area in IBM's OS/2 collection.

• A free "Test Drive CD" for DB2 Universal Database Version 6 for OS/2 is available. Although not an actual "download", it does provide a means to obtain software for IBM's popular Data Base Management System.

• Even better, the DB2 Personal Developer's Edition V7.1 (US English version) is available. Click HERE for all other languages.

• The Macromedia Flash Player for OS/2 from Innotek Systemberatung in Stuttgart, Germany allows every OS/2 desktop to view interactive multimedia web pages. The Beta 3 version was made available June 30th.

• The Java Developers Kit area lets you pick a version for various operating systems (including OS/2). More importantly for OS/2 users...

• IBM OS/2 Warp Developer Kit, Java 2 Technology Preview Edition, Version 1.3.0 is now available as of 6/28/00. This is a software development kit that can be used for internal evaluation, testing or demonstration purposes. The Preview Developer Kit includes development tools, the IBM Java 2 Runtime Environment for OS/2 Warp, and sample code.

• Last but not least, there is a free sample of IBM's VisualAge for Java.

I didn't see anything particularly new or exciting in the IBM FixPak Database, IBM OS/2 Employee-Written Software Catalog, or IBM OS/2 Device Driver Pak Online, but these are other web pages that should also be bookmarked for quick access.

Keep the Faith!