From: chris@atl.scscom.com (Chris Boaro)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Report: OS/2 2.0 "Wraps Off" demo in Atlanta
Date: 9 Apr 92 00:49:36 GMT
Organization: SCS/Compute, Inc.

I just got back from the IBM "Wraps Off" demo held at the Wildwood
business center here in Atlanta. I thought some of you might want to
know what sort of message IBM is sending out.

We arrived at the IBM building at about 3:10 in the afternoon. Their
office in Wildwood is the very picture of corporate america. You walk
accross a large attrium to get to the IBM security desk where we had
to check it. We had to wait for a few moments while the folks there
took care of other matters. About 15 minutes after arriving, we were
checked in with our "VISITOR - REQUIRES ESCORT" badges and told
someone would meet us at the door to the conference room. Sure
enough, when we arrived at the classroom door it was locked and we
waited a few minutes for someone to let us in.

As we were coming in, an IBM photographer was leaving and he wanted
to take our pictures. Apparently because we were wearing bright
colored sports shirts instead of the IBM-typical blue dress shirt and
red power tie. I muttered to the gentleman who let us in that the
photo-op would cost him an OS/2 pin. And sure enough, after taking
our picture, he passed me a pin - oh boy!! (I'm easily amused)

After that, the 3 of walked down this long semi-deserted hall way. I
felt sort of I was walking down the corridor of the enterprise or
something. Big windowless white doors on all sides of us. Very clean.
It was sort of earie, however. I started to imagine that maybe we'd
been set up and the guy behind us was really a Microsoft secret agent
quietly purging the streets of any OS/2 supports. Okay, so I have a
vivid imagination.

Finally we got to the room. There were 7 people besides myself and
the guy that came along with me. There were two IBMers. A woman who
was speaking and doing stuff with an overhead projection sort of
thing, and the guy who let us in. I'm assuming that since they had
been running demo's all day, that the earlier ones were a little more
crowded. There were softdrinks and coffee in the back. Most (but not
all) of the people there were corporate types. (for the many of you
reading this who are probably corporate types yourselfs, don't take
this personally. I have nothing against such people, it's just that
if I'm going to sit in front of a computer for 12 hours a day, I
prefer to do it in jeans and a t-shirt.)

The woman giving the demo, Linda, did not make a very good impression
on me. I had talked to her on the phone the previous day and she was
very helpfull. But I didn't get the impression that she was really an
OS/2 expert. At least not the type of person that should be showing a
bunch of techo-weenies the ins and outs of the system. She did not,
for example, know how to cut and paste between applications. It took
me several minutes to express to her that I wanted to see an OS/2,
Windows, and DOS app running on the -same- desktop. She couldn't
figure how to change fonts in the system editor. The other IBM guy
was giving her hints and what not from the sidelines. He seemed to
know a little bit more about the product. Overall, it was just a
little depressing to see the spokesperson for IBM not knowing how to
use some of the basic features of the OS.

After the demo, we got to tinker around with a machine. It was a
20mhz 386sx box. Now I was really impressed. I didn't realize what I
was sitting at for the first 5 minutes or so, and the menu
selections, window dragging, etc all seemed very snappy to me. I
should mention here that I did not participate in the 2.0 beta
testing, so this was my first time on the Workplace shell. I have
used all version of OS/2 1.x on a variety of machines, up to my
current 486/25.

As for actually using the system, I was really shocked at how
different it is. Sure, I'd read people talking about it, but I mean,
it is TOTALLY different then the OS/2 1.x/Windows type interface. I
didn't sit at the machine long to enough to say for sure that I think
one system is "better" then the other or not. I will say that I
thought the Workplace shell was beautiful! The input boxes, the check
boxes, font selection, the little icon pictures in the upper left
hand corner of the dialogs, etc are all very attractive. I was
definatly ooohing and ahhhing a lot. 

Other rumor tid bits include the IBMers telling us that the 2.0
update with windows 3.1 support would be along in 30-60 days.
Apparently it was demo'd at comdex already. He said something about
IBM and MS programmers working closely together. Apparently
interested in not appearing to be too far distanced from MS. He also
said that the Novell requester was due to be released April 30th.
They are probably waiting to people actually have the real OS/2 to do
final testing and packaging. After the demo, we went down to a local
computer store. One with a huge amount of floor space dedicated to
IBM. I asked if they had 2.0 in stock yet, and they looked at me like
I was nuts.

So, in summary, I think the product looks like a winner. I was more
impressed then I expected to be. But, I think IBM still has a way
to go in presenting a mass market type image. For one think, as
Gordon Letwin pointed out, they may have duplicated disks on the
31st, but they sure aren't shipping in any real quantity. Also,
although I had a great time at their demo, I had to pick out the
facts for myself. It seems to me they could have found someone a
little more expert at using OS/2 to do the demonstration and talk
about it. So come on, IBM, take some hints from Microsoft and Borland
and figure out how to let people know what a great product you've

Chris