larrys@watson.ibm.com (06/26/91)
This is an append I made to an internal newsgroup about what I saw today at PC Expo. I do not feel like retyping it, so here it is... ----- OS2ARENA FORUM appended at 22:53:55 on 91/06/25 GMT (by LARRYS at YKTVMV) ..... OS2ARENA FORUM modified at 23:06:08 on 91/06/25 GMT (by LARRYS at YKTVMV) Subject: PC Expo and Some Comments Long append... Having just returned from day 1 of the PC Expo, here are my comments: OS/2 2.0 Demo (by Joe and Lee): It was amazing! Go see it if at all possible! Before I go into details, I would like to send a CASE of Scooby snacks to the OS/2 Development team in Boca, Lee Reiswig, and Joe G. (I can never spell/pronounce his name). You guys have done an EXCELLENT job!!! OS/2 2.0 never made Windows look worse. Bill Gates does indeed have something to worry about... Side by side, two model 70's with 6M of memory each were used to run 1) OS/2 2.0 with some word processor (I want to say DeScribe) and 2) DOS 5.0 with the same word processor. Both loaded a 5000+ line file and repaginated the entire file with a new font. OS/2 2.0 did the task in ***HALF*** the time it took Windows to do the task. The same computers were used in other OS/2 vs. Windows tests: after repaginating the document, both computers decided to save under a new filename, with the intention of opening a new file after doing so. OS/2 selected "Save as...", entered the filename, and opened the new file IMMEDIATELY, while Windows selected "Save as...", entered the filename, and...whoops...no preemptive I/O, so we had to wait on the Windows computer while OS/2 kept chugging along (incidentally, the new file had the words "I wonder what the other users are doing now?" With 2 DOS windowed prompts running on both machines, one had Lotus 123 2.2 loading a 5000 row spreadsheet, another had dBase IV doing a query on a rather large (cannot remember the size) database, another windowed prompt was opened and "DIR" was executed. The OS/2 computer displayed the directory smoothly while the Windows computer displayed it quite "jerkily". Both computers ran "BADAPP", an application intentionally written to do "the nasty". On OS/2, you received a notice that an illegal instruction was attempted to be executed and that it would be killed, after which OS/2 continued to run smoothly. However, the Windows PC displayed the infamous "The application has violated the system integrity. Please close all applications, exit Windows, and reboot the system" message. Both computers opened a windowed prompt and ran "CHKDSK" to get the system statistics. Windows displayed 654xxx bytes usable, 599xxx bytes free, while OS/2 display 655xxx bytes usable, 647xxx bytes free. Finally, Lee demonstrated "something you won't see on Windows". OS/2 2.0 was shown running an OS/2 application, a Windows 3.0 application, a Windows 2.1 application, and a DOS text-mode application, side-by-side in 4 DOS windowed command prompts. Enough Windows bashing from the demo... DOS applications: 48M per application using the DPMI 1.0 (you read that right; we are using 1.0 instead of 0.9) spec. Does your DOS program require special drivers? NO PROBLEM. Lee demonstrated "satisFAXion" which dialed a FAX machine in the room and sent a FAX document, all in a DOS window. Additionally, some popular multi-media application (I cannot remember the name) played a bunch of MIDI stuff, all in a DOS window. Finally, Flight Simulator was run, both full-screen, then in a DOS window, with no problems, and only a slight performance hit. Network: there was a 3 server network running in the room, one server was an IBM LAN Server, another was a Novell Server, and the other was a Banyon VINES Unix Server. Drag a file from VINES, drop it in the Novell window, no problem. This REALLY impressed a lot of people. LDU (Lan Download Utility) was also demonstrated which allows you to install software, including operating systems, via the LAN. Finally, LAN Chess was demonstrated, which is a groupware application allowing two humans to play each other over the network (Lee did not mention if | this was shipping with OS/2 2.0 LAN Requestor). Also, I forgot to | mention that the Novell Server was running on a Compaq SystemPro. Workplace shell: very impressive. It was demonstrated to run configured as the Windows shell, the OS/2 1.3 shell, or the Workplace model. Drag-n-drop went very smoothly, as well as the "automatic associations" which allowed the user to double-click on a file and have the System Editor come up automatically with the file loaded. Some applets were also shown, Neko and Klondike were actually run with both receiving quite good responses. The "Development Folder" was opened, revealing PM Diary, split up into its various pieces, although none were actually run. Incidentally, Klondike and Neko were run from the "Games Folder" which also had Blox, Scramble, Reversi, and a few other "neato-daddyo" applications in it. People seemed to like the idea of having applets which allow them to get used to the system without actually having to spend a million bucks for a full-blown OS/2 application. Also, I would like to give an extra attaboy to the people responsible for the new Control Panel (now known simply as "Preferences", which I like because it is more friendly and less techie). It was very similar to the NeXT configuration program in that it had different icons for different areas that can be configured. Interesting aspect was, under the mouse section, the "tracking speed" slidebar. The CONFIG.SYS editor was shown which impressed people, and it was noted that OS/2 install will AUTOMATICALLY reinstall any applications that were previously installed, and will update the CONFIG.SYS to include any device drivers, PATH (and, I imagine, DPATH and LIBPATH) changes, etc. that were made to previous versions of OS/2. Graphical Install: it was impressive, although it wasn't apparent if it ran outright in PM, or if you had to install the first disk or two before switching over. Other points needing to be mentioned: Joe said that until the end of the year, there will be $99 upgrade to OS/2 1.3 SE from DOS and $150 outright, with a free upgrade to OS/2 2.0 when it is released. He mentioned that this should attract any PC user, even if (s)he only wants it to multitask DOS applications. Lee closed the demo by opening a DOS windowed prompt and running Space Quest 4 with the MIDI output sent to the speakers, since he liked the music. It made for a great closing theme. All in all, the demo was fantastic, exciting, and made me quite proud to be an IBMer. ================= IBM had a set of rather large booths, one on the main floor, and one upstairs. The former demonstrated IBM products, including a model 95 running the new Intel 50MHz 486, in general, while the latter was dedicated to OS/2. The OS/2 booth was good, and I was able to make a good impression by dressing in jeans and a t-shirt with a collared shirt over it, and by augmenting what the IBM reps were saying. I'm saying this because it turned a few heads to see someone NOT in a pin-stripe. I *strongly encourage* any other IBMers who plan to go, to do the same. The things that people wanted to hear are that OS/2 applets are shipped FREE with OS/2 (note the key word); that they can receive a copy of 2.0 Beta by becoming a member of the Early Experience Program, and that 14 OEMs have signed contracts for support of OS/2 2.0 (or something like that. I didn't quite catch everything that was said by the IBM rep who stated this). Also in the booth were ISVs with their OS/2 apps (like CaseWorks with CASE:PM. I was really impressed...) Additionally, IBM had a booth next to room 1E08 where the demo was done, with IBM and other vendors downstairs answering technical questions. Borland was even there, and today it was announced that Object Vision will be ported to OS/2 2.0 and should ship by the end of this year. ============ All in all, I had a good time. The other booths were interesting, and I didn't see Microsoft anywhere (they must've known I was coming ;). From the demo, it is QUITE apparent that Bill Gates has a LOT to worry about, and I think now is the time to start writing letters to the magazines defending IBM and OS/2 2.0. The world has a nuclear weapon coming for it in 4Q91 and it better be ready. Cheers, Larry Salomon, Jr. (aka 'Q') LARRYS@YKTVMV.BITNET OS/2 Applications and Tools larrys@ibmman.watson.ibm.com IBM T.J. Watson Research Center larrys@eng.clemson.edu Yorktown Heights, NY Disclaimer: The statements and/or opinions stated above are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of my employer. Additionally, I have a reputation for being obnoxious, so don't take any personal attacks too seriously.