SOUND OFF!


The purpose of this section is to provide a forum for our readers to voice their opinions and thoughts on issues related to OS/2. If you have an observation, concern, gripe or compliment regarding something, please feel free to send them to the OS/2 CONNECT editor for inclusion in this section, at: Title & Publisher or complete the form at the bottom of this page.

The opinions expressed in this section are those of the individual writer and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the editor or publisher of OS/2 CONNECT. NOTE: Letters may be edited for inappropriate or offensive language.


BLOWING IT AGAIN

Well I think IBM is blowing it again. With what looked like the last big push to try to save OS/2 by integrating Java into the OS is failing. Microsoft has done it again by not following anything but what they want to do and have in their own way silenced the networked computer from the industry and continues to promote the PC as the only "true networked computer." Sun is not helping any and neither is Bill's best friend PC Magazine. The fear induced into the populace is not being quenched by anything but the next version of Windows. The industry says, "There now, don't you feel safe. You have Windows on your computer not something as dangerous and slow as Java." So what does Microsoft do? Create their own version and include it in Windows 95. Five million copys later Microsoft gets taken to court again and now outside people publicize the confusion about Java between IBM, SUN and Netscape. All Microsoft has to do is stir up some dust and the world listens. You don't get to be the richest man in the world without trechery. Its a proven fact. I beleive Microsoft is using the same trick that killed OS/2 to begin with. Make sure PC Magazine knows how slowwww it is. Not how usefull! Then we need the test that PC Magazine does to fail OS/2 but not Windows or Mac. Remember only Microsoft knows how to write software and operating systems. Its already been published and proven. PC Magazine said and I quote, "Compared with native code, Java VM's are excruciatingly slow." "Java cannot compete with nativley compiled C++ code" (Vol. 17, No. 7 April 7, 1998, page 104). Now from page 146 of the same issue: "OS/2 didn't fare nearly as well on our compatability tests. It landed near the end of the pack, running only 4 of the 12 applets successfully." And finally some pasty resistance: "For the second year in a row the Microsoft Java environment was the fastest and the most compatable on our tests and wins the Editors Choice." Doesn't this just make you puke. Hey who wrote Java anyway? How come Netscape is not written in 100% pure Java which will run on any platform? One source file. A programmer's dream. Nothing is flowing in any direction that IBM and Sun would like. Java is destined to be a 1% market share and nothing more than an applet that looks pretty on a web page unless something is done.

- Dan Dahl
TSI Inc.
St. Paul, MN, USA
September 1, 1998

OS/2 CONNECT IN INF FORMAT

Personally, I have always preferred to have OS/2 CONNECT in an INF format. I have sent e-mail to the publishers and received a reply that the majority of readers prefer the HTML format. If CONNECT is provided in INF format, users can search every issue for a topic quite easily using the search facility contained in VIEW.EXE. If you feel as I do and would prefer to have OS/2 CONNECT provided in an INF format, please voice your preference to the Editor.

- Ray Appleby
Team OS/2
Calgary, AB, Canada
August 24, 1998

EDITOR's NOTE: OS/2 CONNECT was originally published in April 1995 in an INF format (not HTML). Although I personally enjoyed the INF version myself, the popularity of the web pushed us into an HTML format where readers could easily click through the many Internet connections embedded in the newsletter. At this time it would simply not be worth the effort to switch back over to INF. However, please give us your thoughts on the subject as per Ray's suggestion.


BOTTOM-UP VERSUS TOP-DOWN

I've always said that "Microsoft could sell sand to an Arab, while IBM couldn't sell water to someone dying of thirst in the middle of the Sahara." I guess that comes from IBM being a company with a HUGE bureaucracy. The main problem is IBM is STILL losing touch with computer industry. They understand the big iron better than anyone else, but still haven't figured out that the future (and mindshare) resides with the client. A marketing professor of mine (MBA course) kept pounding into us that we should "NEVER underestimate the irrationality of the American consumer." Ever since I took that course, it has never ceased to amaze me how correct he was! IBM needs to learn this. The CONSUMERS (non-corporate customers) are those people who will be making the decisions in most companies in 5-15 years (you can see the transition happening even now). Somewhere in that time frame, IBM will be looking around wondering why nobody is buying their products, even though the products of their competitors (maybe only Microsoft by then) don't work as well. The computer industry is a "bottom-up" industry, not a "top-down" industry as IBM (and IBM stockholders) will find out to their disappointment. By bottom-up, I mean that many, maybe even most, decisions are driven by the (perceived) needs of the USERS, not the business needs of the company. How else can you explain the tolerance for the buggy application suites that Microsoft is putting out? Remember that "irrationality of the American consumer" thing? If IBM will just fix ONE thing in the Warp client (and server), they will be able to climb back into the race for user mindshare. What is that, you ask? Just eliminate the 512MB VDM limit. That's it! ! The OS/2 community can fix the rest. The Win32-OS2 Project is a perfect example of this. They are working to make Win32 applications run NATIVELY on Warp. You can see how at their web site (http://www.os2ss.com/win32-os2/). As things stand right now, I don't think it is very likely to succeed in more than a limited fashion. I realize that is pretty negative, but let's be realistic. Microsoft development tools are BY FAR AND AWAY the most popular Win32 (and in general) development tools. Microsoft knows the limitations of OS/2. It is not unreasonable for me to believe that the first thing a Microsoft developer tool does with any application developed with it is to make a call up around the 2GB memory area. I'm sure Microsoft even has some "good" reason for it. The bottom line is it keeps OS/2 from running these applications. Of course, I would like to see some additional things added to the Warp client, especially JFS and other juicy additions that are going into the Aurora server, but I don't think it will help much until the 512MB limit is fixed. And, of course, it would be wonderful if the VDM's were changed to handle 64-bit addressing... :) Thanks for your time.

- Scott Surbrook
Scott Surbrook GYMW, Inc.
Memphis, TN , USA
August 18, 1998

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