bakken@hrsw2.UUCP (David E. Bakken) (04/09/88)
I ran across the following letter on page 4 of the March 15, 1988 issue
of DATAMATION:
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I must take issue with the comment that OS/2 is a revolutionary
microcomputer operating system("The Big Change for Small Systems
Software", Dec. 15 p. 70). Why should OS/2 be considered revolutionary
except to people who know only about MS/DOS?
Graphical Interfaces; multitasking; megabytes of RAM; message
passing between programs; clipboards; multiple windows; multiple,
simultaneously available screen resolutions; up to 4,096 colors on the
screen at once ... no, not an IBM PS/2 with OS/2, but the Commodore
Amiga - available for a couple of years before anyone saw or heard of
OS/2, much less the Presentation Manager. And the Amiga operating
system fits entirely into 256KB of ROM with room left over for device
drivers. Last I heard, OS/2 required between 1MB and 3MB.
The "revolutionary features" of OS/2 have been present in
technical workstations and high-end office automation systems since the
1970s. They were pioneered by Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center.
Please, don't be so eager to use the word "revolutionary"
unless something really is.
Mark Cashman
Dp Manager
Anocoil Corp.
Rockville, Conn.
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Way to go, Mark, if you're on the net! Now if C= will just
follow up with some good ads in DATAMATION... .
BTW, I do *not* regularly read DATAMATION - someone who does handed me
a copy of the page. I used to read it occasionally many moons ago until
they said computer science curriculums were teaching to much theory and
not enough practical courses and as anecdotal proof they complained
that very few CS programs required COBOL.
--
Dave Bakken Boeing Commercial Airplanes (206) 277-2571
uw-beaver!apcisea!hrsw2!bakken
Disclaimer: These are my own views, not those of my employers. Don't
let them deter you from buying the 747 you've been saving hard for.