No, I'm not talking about moving away from OS/2. I'm not even talking about giving
up my favorite OS/2 applications. I'm talking about software developers who seem
to need a size 17 cluebat upside the head. Let me give you a recent example.
Last week I nearly sold two or three customers on OS/2 upgrades. The only obstacle
for them was the need to run a handful of Windows-only applications. Now what did
this mean? It meant that PC users who wanted to upgrade to a stable, Y2K-ready platform
were stuck with a brain-dead kludge operating system from Redmond instead. But it
also meant that some people in software development in several major industries
just don't get it. One medical doctor needs to use several CD-ROMs to do research
on various parts of the human body, various medications, and various illnesses and
their symptoms and treatments. This is not rocket science; these applications are
nothing more that passive collections of information with perhaps a search engine
built-in.
So why were they Windows-only? Some of these medical CDs were Mac-only. Why the
fixation with a single platform? The solution to the software dilemma is really
quite simple: all such encyclopedic collections of information should be built in
strictly web-page format using standard HTML and .GIF files. Everybody can get access
to a web browser on any platform, and the resultant CDs would be platform-independent,
bringing in a greater number of customers without having to duplicate development
efforts.
But not only would the CDs be platform-neutral, but there would be a tremendous
additional benefit in reduced development costs. If collections of data can be assembled
into a CD-ROM using webpage format, then there would no longer be any need for expensive
Windows-only development tools, bounds checkers, C++ debuggers, and the high-priced
personnel to use these kludges. Instead, a handful of webpage designers could crank
out CD after CD with higher reliability and much lower development time. The ROI
would be fabulous, combining faster release times, lower development costs, lower
debugging time, reduced tech support costs, and a broader range of compatible customers
-- in other words, an absolute win-win situation for developer and customer alike.
The fact that so few medical, industrial, and educational reference CD-ROMs are
built on a platform-neutral, open-standards design implies that there are a whole
lot of corporate decision-makers out there who just don't get it. And I'm not just
talking about people in Armonk or Austin.
--
Tom Nadeau
OS/2 Headquarters -- Your Chauffeur on the Info Highway
It's Year-End Clearance Time at Bargain Headquarters
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