From: philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara)
Subject: Re: best target platform: OS/2 1.x!?!
Date: 12 Oct 92 20:40:40 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation

In article <1992Oct10.021824.14006@netcom.com> xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters) writes:
>In <1992Oct09.183431.1318@microsoft.com> philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara) writes:
>>In article <1992Oct9.013333.19999@netcom.com> xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters) writes:
>>>In <1992Oct08.184014.29255@microsoft.com> philipla@microsoft.com (Phil Lafornara) writes:
>>>>In article <1992Oct8.005854.1431@netcom.com> xtifr@netcom.com (Chris Waters) writes:
>>>>>
>>>>>Consider the following little table:
>>>>>
>>>>>                             Target Environment
>>>>>Apps               DOS     Win   OS/2 1.x   OS/2 2.x   Win NT
>>>>>-------           --------------------------------------------
>>>>>DOS                Yes     Yes    1/2         Yes       1/2
>>>
>>>>     Windows NT should get a Yes in the DOS row.  I'm not sure why you
>>>>have it as 1/2.
>>>
>>>Because of the limited compatibility.  Same reason I put 1/2 under OS/2
>>>1.x.  Actually, it could easily be argued that this row should have
>>>yesses across the board.  I wouldn't have a problem with that.
>
>>     Which limited compatibility is that?
>
>The announcement by MS that NT will only support the "top 100 DOS apps".
>I have over 100 DOS apps on my system alone.  I have no idea how good
>NT's DOS support will actually be when the thing is actually released; I
>have nothing to go by except MS's official statements.  For that matter,
>I have no idea, except from the rumors I've heard, how good OS/2 1.x's
>DOS compatibility is...

     I think you misunderstood the announcment.  By claiming that
Windows NT will run the top 100 DOS apps, Microsoft is saying that
Windows NT will be extensively tested with those apps, and compatibility
problems will be fixed.  In that top 100, there will be some well-
behaved apps and some real nightmares.  By testing on those 100,
the hope is that the vast majority of DOS apps will run.  The sheer
volume of DOS applications in release precludes testing of all of them.
     Is IBM claiming 100% DOS compatibilty for OS/2 2.0?
     OS/2 1.x seemed to have reasonable compatibility, but I haven't
tested it much.  It does run only one DOS app at a time, though.


>Geeze, Phil keeps ignoring the meat of my posts.  Can *anyone* tell me
>who is selling OS/2 1.x today?  Where can I buy it, who sells compilers
>for it?  I may not want to use it on my development machine, but I still
>think that it could be an excellent target environment for dedicated
>workstations.  Unless it's outrageously priced.  Isn't it part of the MS
>LAN Manager package?  Can't I set up a network with an NT server and
>OS/2 1.x (or even 2.0) workstations?  Am I lost in a fantasy land? 
>Again?  :-)

     I would love to answer these questions, but can't really give
anything definitive at the moment.

					-Phil
-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phil Lafornara         				1 Microsoft Way         
philipla@microsoft.com				Redmond, WA 98052-6399 
Note:  Microsoft doesn't even _know_ that these are my opinions. So there.
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy