Warpstock 99 - Atlanta, October 16-17, 1999
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Source: Dan Casey (dcasey@iquest.net)
Moderator: Christopher B. Wright (wrightc@dtcweb.com)
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There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the circumstances surrounding
the decision by  IBM to not accept Stardock's proposal to release  a new Warp
Client. In the interest of attempting to clarify the situation, here's the
events, as the unfolded.

Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 13:46:45 -0400

Brad Wardell posted the following message to the stardock.os2 newsgroup at
Stardock:

- From - Sun Sep 19 17:30:36 1999
From: "Brad Wardell" 
Subject: Judgement Day results
Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 13:46:45 -0400

In 1998, Stardock took the position that if IBM had no current or projected
plans for a new fat OS/2 client, that it was in the interests of OS/2 users
and the computing community in general that a third-party should work with
IBM to license OS/2 technology on an OEM basis and make a new client
available.

To that end, late last year, Stardock prepared a business plan and opened
negotiations with IBM. The wheels of bureacracy grind slowly, but eventually
it was up to "IBM" (executive level) to make the ultimate call on
proceeding.

For the past 6 months, Stardock and IBM have been working closely together
in hammering out the details of an OS/2 client.  Everything from potential
names down to which minute components would or would not be included.  These
meetings included multiple in-person meetings with IBM staff and executives
here at Stardock's office complex in Livonia Michigan.

With an agreement in principle in place, the last major hurdle was this week
in which the IBMers in favor of our proposal (mostly in Austin) presented
their case to IBM as a whole.

The call has been made -- there will be no new client from Stardock and IBM
has indicated that they have no plans for an OS/2-based client of their own.

Though IBM indicated Stardock had the strongest proposal, they have decided
that it is currently not in IBM's or their customer's interests to license
any current OS/2 technology on an OEM-basis.

There was never any discord between IBM and Stardock over financials,
technical viability, target market, or the like.  IBM has simply finally
made the decision that a new OS/2 client would be in conflict with their
strategic directions.

Stardock would like to extend a special thanks to all the IBMers (and in
particular Ken Christopher and Timothy Sipples) who went above and beyond
the call in working with us and going to bat inside IBM.  Remember when you
meet folks like them, who are and have been intimately involved with OS/2,
that their hands may be just as tied as yours when the IBM Corporation as a
whole sets policy.

Everything that could be done was done.

Brad

- ---
Brad Wardell
Product Manager: Object Desktop & The Corporate Machine
http://www.stardock.com

=========================================================================

On Saturday, September 18th,  the following appeared at os2.org, an  OS/2
support site in Germany:

What's The Truth Behind 'The Meeting'?
Today is the first day of Warp Expo West and our reporters are sending in a
great many news stories. First, let's start with the very much publicized
meeting
Brad Wardell claims to have taken place yesterday which is getting much airplay
today.

According to an IBM official attending Warp Expo West, no meeting took place
yesterday on the future status of OS/2. He should know, he sits on the
committee itself. On top of this he said IBM has ruled no third party entity
out of the running to offer a third party release of Warp 5.

==========================================================================

Then, Sunday, Sept. 19th, the following appeared in a mailing list (the PMMAIL
list, under the subject "Death Knell for OS/2"):

"According to Stephen King at Warp Expo West speaking in front of
approximately 100 people, Brad Wardell is wrong. No meeting took
place. It was canceled. He says he should know he is on the committee."

This post, and subsequent e-mail exchanges between myself and the original
poster (Jay Gibberman) brought forth even more detail on Steven King's
statement at Warp Expo West.

==========================================================================

In an attempt to clarify things, and put an  end to the confusion, I e-mailed
Timothy Sipples and asked him if he could comment. In the context of his
response, the "this one" in the  opening sentence is referring  to the  report
posted at os2.org.

==========================================================================

Dan:

Brad's statement and this one are not inconsistent.

The meeting didn't take place because there was a meeting ahead of the meeting,
at which it was decided there wasn't any need to have a meeting because IBM was
not going to pursue Stardock's proposal (and the "agreement in principle"
between IBM and Stardock).  (You see, you only have *that* meeting to *approve*
agenda items.)

IBM hasn't ruled any third party out of offering a new client, but it hasn't
ruled any third party (or itself) *in*, either.  (IBM almost never rules
anything out.)  Brad's statement was accurate; Stardock anticipates no change
in
IBM's stance.

Brad's statement was also accurate that IBM has received more than one offer.
Thus far IBM has rejected all of them "at this time."

But I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, since it's all public.
And I'll repeat my earlier comment which is that I'm in the dark on this one
(because I am).

============================================================================

Now, we all know that, as is typical in a large company  or organization,
sometimes the lines of communication are not, well,clear and concise,
amongst and between different departments and even,in  some cases,
betweenmembers of the same department.

As I  was not in attendance at the presentation  given by Steven King, I have
no idea in  what context he was speaking when he made the above statement. And,
since I have no corroborating "testimony" at this time, I have no way of
knowing if this is, in fact, what he actually said, though the source of the
info seems very reliable. 

So, I e-mailed Steven King and asked him, directly, if he could clarify the
situation, and give me something I could quote him on. Here is his response,
quoted verbatim, from his e-mail reply to me:

============================================================================

Hi Dan -

The IPMT (Intergrated Product Management Team) meeting scheduled for 9/16 did
not take place due to the weather situation on the east coast. There are 2 key
issues that we are facing:

     Volume/revenue forecast for such an offering

     National language plan (can we release an offering with fewer than an
     IBM-required 28 NLVs)

Any outcome projection at this point would be incomplete.

Steven

============================================================================


This is all the information I have on the Stardock/IBM deal re: Stardock
releasing a new Client Version of OS/2 Warp. All of the posts attributed to
individuals are direct cut-n-paste, verbatim quotes, from e-mail messages I
received.

Now, you all know what I know regarding this deal, and this should provide
enough substantiated information from reliable sources to end the wild
speculations and guessing games that have proliferated USENET ever since Brad
posted to his own news server last Friday.

This is one deal that did not materialize when expected. OS/2 is NOT dead, and
IBM has NOT dropped its support. However, I feel that the next 6 to 12 months
will be a "very interesting time".

Thanks for your attention and consideration.


Dan Casey
President, VOICE   http://www.os2voice.org
http://members.iquest.net/~dcasey
Team SETI   http://www.seti-inst.edu/
Warpstock 99 in Atlanta ... BE THERE!!!
To request my PGP Public Key, send e-mail with "Req PGP Key" as Subject Line

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