 VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org |
[Previous Page] [Next Page] [Features Index] |
|
VOICE Home Page: http://www.os2voice.org |
[Previous Page] [Next Page] [Features Index] |
What a month for OS/2 users. Besides all the great events that begin this month
with Warp Expo West we also have lot's of new and old
apps now available for free (well the cost of a download anyway). Starting things
off, IBM has made a monster download of DB2 personal version available for free.
Visit http://www6.software.ibm.com/dl/db2pde/db2pde-p/,
pick your language version and register with IBM. You have to download both a language
version and a common base module. It's a combined 73 Meg. And that's compressed.
There are also large optional extenders that amount to about 200Meg more, so this
download is for people with large pipes to the internet and a lot of spare disk
space. DB2 Personal version "is licensed for installation and use by an individual
user. You may only use the Program for the purposes of evaluating, demonstrating,
testing, and developing application programs."
Next up in the Free Stuff derby is StarOffice 5.1. Sun has purchased Star Division,
and has now made StarOffice 5.1 free not just for personal use, but for all use.
You can get StarOffice 5.1 now by going to http://wwwwswest2.sun.com/dot-com/staroffice.html.
They also have an option to purchase all distributions (OS/2, Linux, Solaris and
windows) for only $9.95(plus $6 Shipping), but only in the English or Germen version
at present. Why is Sun doing this? "It's all part of our vision of open network
computing," says Sun CEO Scott McNealy. "Open, standardized, cross-platform
file formats are vital to today's .com business model, which includes customers,
suppliers, partners -- the whole value chain -- all using a variety of devices and
platforms." And perhaps to attack microsoft in one of it's biggest vulnerabilities.
If everyone can run StarOffice for free, why continue to buy bloated/incompatible
updates of microsoft office?
Not all free stuff this month has brought joy. Innoval announced they were abandoning
their OS/2 products to concentrate on a windows product. Unlike some others who
have abandoned us in the past, Dan Porter decided on a class exit from the OS/2
market. He announced that Post Road Mailer, Web Willy Watch and the Java application
JStreet Mailer. Innoval's website has been totally cleaned of these products and
only promotes the windows product now, so you have to get these from some other
source. You can get JStreet Mailer or PRM at http://st6.yahoo.com/innoval/os2software.html.
(All three are on hobbes - http://hobbes.nmsu.edu
) You can find updates to JStreet at http://paul.vanKeep.com/jstreet/index.html,
where unofficial updates keep this application alive. I can't live without Web Willy
Watch myself, as it provides a great search function for all the web sites I have
surfed through in the past several years. It also provides a parental control/site
blocker function. You can read all about Web Willy Watch in my review from the November
1998 VOICE Newsletter - http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL1198H/vnewsf5.htm
Another OS/2 ISV that has left the OS/2 market; Truespectra, has made their excellent
graphics creation/manipulation application - Photo>Graphics Pro, available for
download on their site - http://www.truespectra.com/support.html.
As sad as I am to lose yet another OS/2 ISV, this is certainly a demonstration of
class on TrueSpectra's part and I have sent them a note saying so. For more on Photo>Graphics
Pro check out Don Eitner's VIEW from the End(User)
titled The Best Things in Life Are Free .
Finally, a rather bizarre source for free OS/2 software is an update to a DOS
microsoft application. They have made the DOS version of Word 5.5b available for
free download (The site states that "Microsoft Word 5.5 for MS-DOS is a complimentary
upgrade for customers of Microsoft Word 5.0 for MS-DOS. If you intend to use Word
5.0 for MS-DOS in the year 2000 and beyond, we recommend that you upgrade to Word
5.5 for MS-DOS before December 31, 1999.") . But not only is it a DOS app,
it is also a 16bit, text OS/2 program as well. Of course no mention of OS/2 appears
on the web page, but you can create an OS/2 program object for it and run it full-screen
or windowed. So if you want to take a trip down memory lane to a time when bill
gates proclaimed OS/2 as the "operating System of the nineties", and you
have a license for Word 5.0, then download it from http://officeupdate.microsoft.com/downloadDetails/Wd55eng.htm.
So who says there aren't any apps to run on OS/2? Now all we need is a spiffy
new client release. We had Lynn Maxson back on August 28th with the topic being
the Warpicity User Organization. We talked about what needs to be in place to support
a user directed new client. Please read the transcript at http://www.os2voice.org/logs/V082899.LOG.html.
For more on Lynn's Warpicity Proposal, please be sure to read his article in this
issue, A Proposal, Not a Promise.
On Saturday, September 9, 1999 - VOICE hosted a Speakup with Andreas Linde of
OS2.ORG. Topic: "OS2.org, what can it do for OS/2 and its users ?". OS2.org
<http://www.os2.org> and VOICE talked about
working together to help disseminate support information for the OS/2 community.
The transcript for that speakup can be viewed at http://www.os2voice.org/logs/V090499.LOG.html.
On Monday, September 13th, VOICE and SCOUG jointly hosted a a Speakup on Warp
Expo West. The Randell and Rollin show played to a packed house, and everyone
was thoroughly captivated by all the plans for this great OS/2 event. If you missed
it, you missed a good one, but you can read all about it in the log - http://www.os2voice.org/logs/V091399.LOG.html.
Coming up in September, we have a General VOICE meeting on September 20th at
8PM EST(00:00GMT) on IRC in WEBBnet. Please attend if you can. VOICE needs your
input and involvement. In October, we have our good firends at Sundial Systems back
for a Speakup on Monday, October 4th at 8PM EST (00:00GMT). No topic has been announced
yet, but these are always informative and well attended. Also on Monday, October
18th, 8PM EDt (00:00GMT) we have another General VOICE meeting. As always, please
be sure to check out the updated VOICE Future events Calendar
in this newsletter or on the VOICE website at <http://www.os2voice.org/calendar.html>
for more details on future VOICE events.
September is the month beginning three great OS/2 events in a short time span.
VOICE is doing it's part to have a presence at all events. If you would like to
help by volunteering a couple hours of your time at one of these events, please
contact Dan Casey at abraxas@os2voice.org.
To help kickoff these events we have preview articles of all three shows. First
up we have Peter Skye's chronicle of the birth of Warp
Expo West. Then Christian Hennecke gives us a small history and preview
of Warpstock Europe 99. And for those of us who
have unfortunately missed the first two Warpstock events, Luc Van Bogaert tells
us what to expect for the third annual Warpstock 99
in Atlanta.
These events demonstrate that there is more interest in OS/2 now then there has
been in quite a while. OS/2 (and the flurry of OS/2 events) is getting more frequent
mention in the press, and even IBM has admitted that sales of OS/2 are much better
then they had projected. Just imagine the success if IBM actually did something
to promote this great operating system? Phil Butler unloads with his Editorial:
Myths versus Reality, taking on the FUDster feedback on the internet to
Esther Schindler's interesting article - "SHHH!
IBM's still selling OS/2" in this month's Sm@rt
Reseller Online. As a side note regarding promotion of OS/2, since IBM is
doing absolutely nothing to promote OS/2, Tom Nadeau has taken it upon himself to
do so in an unusual way. Please read Tom's "Operation Rock Soup" - http://www.os2hq.com/archives/arch18.htm
for an interesting idea on getting the word out on OS/2 to the masses.
In this issue of the VOICE Newsletter, we also have a step by step article on
Preparing for and Installing OS/2 on an IBM Aptiva
by John Twelker. And then I recount some of the research I went through in Choosing
a laptop for OS/2.
Just a reminder that we now have a full Newsletter
Master Index page. All the feature sections of the current and previous issues
can now be found on this one page. Additionally, we have added a Java based search
function to this master index page. It will allow you to search all past issues
for a specific word or phrase. So try it out and let us know what you think. If
you have any ideas for improvements let me know at editor@os2voice.org.
We are always interested in your thoughts and views on subjects related to OS/2,
and would like to see opinion/editorial pieces as well as hardware/software reviews.
To that end, and because of several recent requests, we have added a Guidelines
for Article Submissions to the VOICE Newsletter
Mark Dodel
Editor, VOICE Newsletter
editor@os2voice.org
Joel I. Klein
Assistant Attorney General
Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice
601 D Street, NW
Washington, DC 20530
The email address is antitrust@justice.usdoj.gov,
however I believe a written communication has more effect then electronic.