From: jreynold@nmt.edu (John Reynolds)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.apps
Subject: Re: Why OS/2 **WILL** fail
Date: 27 Sep 92 18:06:27 GMT
Article-I.D.: nmt.1992Sep27.180627.5823
Organization: New Mexico Tech

>First let me begin by confusing the hell out of the issue and saying
>that I LOVE os/2. I use os/2. Within a day of seeing the os/2 $50
>
>powerful, they were hits because the average joe could USE them.
[..]
>people could actually (gasp) use. This is where os/2 comes in. OS/2
>is a perfect example of PC power without rembering who the real
>market is.

I disagree.

>OS/2 is POWERFUL, REAL powerful. But its also a pain in
>the ass.

True, there are a lot of things you need to know about, and I truly
think that as time goes on, more books will be written (for the
inexperienced user) and IBM will provide more docs and better support
for a wider range of hardware (Supporting the ATI ultra a little better
perhaps!!!!!!)

>have alienated the average user. I don't know ANYONE who can't just
>jump into a MAC or Windows program without problem, but sit them in
>front of os/2 and they start drooling in confusion. From truly

I disagree again. I know of several people who read the documentation
that came with WPS, and after a few hours, they were quite proficient
in file management, starting apps, etc.

>Theres a REASON why SO MANY PEOPLE are willing to buy a mac even
>though it will cost them everything they own. 

Oh, I agree!, I agree, MACs are sooo expensive (to deck one out).

>software compatability and so on and so forth. OS/2 has not helped,
>from the software point of view, in this area at all. It just

I disagree. I've installed OS/2 on several machines and _all_ of them
were flawless, and all apps ran (except Word for Win 2.0, but it's a
pig...and borlandc++, but the fix was in the "readme" file) fine.

>complicated issues. OS/2 can't survive in it's current form. Its just
>too damn hard for your average computer semi-literate to deal with!

Yes, it will. Look at AmigaDOS. Know any amiga users? I do, and they're
perfectly fine surviving on their own....:)

>Any idiot can install and get windows running, but getting os/2
Try interfacing windows to a network. Not fun. At all.....

>true market or they will fail. Personally I expect os/2 users to
>become like NEXT users. There will always be some, but they will be
>small and off in the woods some place.

Perhaps, but, I'll take that over DOS, windows or NT....

>Oh and btw, is there ANYONE out there who can do file management
>faster through the gui than they can through the command line? Why

No, there never was. Unless you call Xtree Gold a GUI!!!!

>is it that file management on the mac is really easy from a gui but
Because its GUI is *nothing more than a picture of it's file system*.
How simple could that be. Throw in some menus and buttons, and Yes,
file management is very easy.

>the os/2 gui is so slow in this area? I'm running off a 486/33mhz
Yes, it's slow, but things (32-bit ness) will change, and better
stuff is yet to come.

I agree with the underlying message in this post, but have got to say
that one key point has been left out. New users of systems (no matter
if it's VMS (god no), Windows, DOS, Unix, etc. READ THE DOCUMENTATION
on it). I along with the others in my old office read through the WPS
and other docs that came with GA, and we were proficient quickly. It
took me longer to learn the basics of SunOS 4.0.1 than OS/2. Is SunOS
going to die because of that?? No...

I think
that as IBM improves OS/2's compatibility with wider ranges of hardware,
and produces better docs, OS/2 will be more "non-user" friendly. But
until then, I'll keep using it!

Just my obersvations and two bits...

-Jr
-- 
Windows...It's like a stale cookie.
OS/2..."It's like butter" (SNL quote)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.apps