Letters, Addendum, Errata

May 16, 1999 - In reference to last month's editorial on the quiet release of OS/2 Warp e-business and the lack of a client version - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0599H/vnewsf1.htm:

Yes, I want Warp 5. I would pay hundreds of dollars for it, too! I think it could be a serious threat to Microsoft. And that's the point. Is it not obvious that IBM has accepted its current market niche and is scared of drawing fire from Microsoft? If IBM cut the price on Warp Server for E-Business or produced a reasonably priced Warp Client that ran Windows 9* apps Microsoft would simply give away Windows NT with a lot of hype and cut into IBM's market segment. IBM wants a quiet life and a stable profit base, that's all.

Phil Butler

Editor's response: Recently after this letter was written, an IBM executive admitted under oath that microsoft pressured IBM into abandoning OS/2 and support for other competing applications as well. See http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,1014829,00.html and http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/tc/story.html?s=v/nm/19990527/tc/microsoft_14.html. IBM chose to give in (after a bit of refusing) and only loads microjunk on it's own hardware. Perhaps now that this illegal arrangement has been un-earthed, IBM will become more emboldened and less afraid of the microsoft tyrant.

May 19, 1999 - In reference to last month's article by Louis Muollo "A different perspective on Warp" - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0599H/vnewsf4.htm:

As a user of OS2 since 2.0 ,and being concerned with the investment I have with Warp4 and associated hardware, and -having been in the 'information technology' field for 20 years- no longer susceptible to hype or willing to play the silly wintel upgrade game, I think Mr. Muollo's idea is Greeaaat(to quote 'Tony'). Please let me and other know how we can participate/contribute to having this idea 'take off.
Bruce Sims

and this from Dilbert Firestorm:

Hi Louis,

This is in response to your May Voice article. There is actually someone who wants to do this.

His name is Lynn Maxson. He is planning a demo of driver using a new programming technique at the OS/2 Warp Convention this year.

You might wanna think about interviewing him.

Editor's response: We took your advice and have set up a VOICE Speakup with Lynn Maxson on his Warpicity Proposal. Date is July 12th, time is 8PM EDT, Place is the #voice channel on WEBBnet IRC. For details on IRC events, please see the Meeting Information page - http://www.os2voice.org/meetinginfo.html. So don't miss it. :-)

May 22, 1999 -The following is from D.J. van Enckevort:

Hello,
I have a small request: Please, could give in announcements like in WarpCast a full URL for the downloadable copy of your newsletter (thus including filename). This is very useful for people who want to automatically download a copy.
Thanks in advance,
David van Enckevort

Editor's response: I will try to include this in all future Newsletter announcements. But please also check out the VOICE web site from time to time, as important notices are posted there which may not make it into the newsletter do to timing.

May 23, 1999 - As an errata to Don Eitner's column in the May Newsletter - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0599H/vnewsfe.htm:

MED is not commercial software as I stated in my last article but it's shareware. The URL has also changed to:

http://www.utopia-planitia.de/

June 11, 1999 - VOICE member William Higinbotham writes:

I have been using OS/2 since 2.0. I use it primarily as a general office apps machine and web connectivity and email. You will find that most of us may have multiple platforms on our machines (OS/2, Linux, MS Windows/NT, BE, Sun Solaris and others). I like to think that the majority are hobbiests who like to learn the currents of the computer field. During this period I purchased Lotus Suite at NY PC Expo for OS/2 for $100.00. Since then, all upgrades where just shipping charges. Not bad! Since then, I have grown with it to Warp 4. This latest system was probably the first and only on the market that had built in voice recognition built in it.

Warp also introduced me to JAVA apps on the desktop (http://www.datarepresentations.com - Simplicity, http://www.innoval.com/ - JSTREET (Which also turned me on to http://www.webwilly.com/ - WebWilly), http://www.devtech.com/prods.html -Site Surfer ) . OpenGL graphics capability through GRADD drivers (http://webhome.idirect.com/~aquilat/ - GLCUBE, http://www.pacificablue.com/sss/ - EscapeGL screensaver (which al so introduced me to NAP (Numeral Assistant Pro)).

I have a lot of other great software such as ZipStream by Carbon Based Software http://www.zgc.com/carbon/ - Data Security and Compression which protects my data with triple DES on the fly. I have come across some excellent software that has gone by the way side and I wonder where they are now - such as MAGUS that made PageTurner - a postscript viewer similar to ghostscript and a screensaver program that I now cannot recall. All the products I have used had wonderful programmers with great ideas which they crafted and they tried to keep up with the changes along the way (2.0 to Warp 4). I am sure that they are glad that the changes did not go at the pace of other operating systems. For OS/2 may show an equal amount of problems like those others had it kept up the pace. Not to say that it does not have it own quirks at this point. Show me a computer system without problems and I will bet it is an embedded system dedicated to a specific suite of tasks like a VCR -though mine still blinks the time at me. I am not any year compliant when it come to setting the auto record using the date and time modes. I do allot of things at once on the computer and found that OS/2 had met my satisfaction most of the time.

To the OS/2 software developer community for doing a wonderful job. I wish all of you (past and present) best journeys as we go into year 2000. Who expected to make it this far! Live young and party hard was our motto. Still living young - just can't party.

I have never really taken the time to thank everyone in the past and wish to take this time to do so. I would like to take the time to thank the industry that developed hardware and drivers for the OS/2 community! We would not have made it this far with out all these dedicated folks. I would also thank very much all the hard work by IBM's committed OS/2 team members!!! IBM has allot of great persons (OS/2 and not OS/2) that work very hard long hours to help the community and they will not be forgotten.

What is the future. Maybe it will be released as open code at a future date. Ralph Nader did a wonderful thing asking this for us. Thank you Mr. Nader. My understanding is that IBM is working primarily on Aurora, The Server solution for businesses. The fat client may go away (I hope not). But it is nice to see allot of the companies that developed for OS/2 start developing for linux (I can understand the urge toward MS platform - I will leave it at that). Wouldn't it be nice to see OS/2 released and merged with linux? A new frontier. Go west young man, go west. There is gold ions in them hills.

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