From: gutz@cc49.crl.aecl.ca
Subject: Re: MS ready to release 32-bit Word & Excel?!?! Read on...
Organization: AECL-Research
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 14:25:38 GMT


In article <1992Sep29.044230.17723@microsoft.com> petesk@microsoft.com (Pete Skelly) writes:
><much drivel deleted>
>> 
>> Pete,
>> 
>> With all due respect to whatever position you have at MS (and I don't
>> care what it is), you are a total idiot!  If you think 2-3 million people
>> constitutes a few special intrest groups, then you have to be brain-dead.
>There are 2-3 million OS/2 users, state sources please.
>
>>
>< some stuff deleted >
>> 
>> If you, and/or MS think I'm going to use a Windows app under OS/2 when
>> there is a native OS/2 app, you will surely miss the boat.  So drop your
>> "NT is going to take the World" attitude and admit that MS is working on
>> OS/2 apps.  One would have to be pretty naive to believe that MS hasn't
>> noticed the potential of OS/2 and has not started to build apps.
>
>I have left my post intact in this article so you can point out my
>"NT is going to take over the word" attitude.  And, also tell me what
>projects MS dropped to shift resources to OS/2 apps.
>
>
>petesk@microsoft.com
>My Opinions...

Name one person at MS who doesn't think NT will take over the world!
And who said Microsoft dropped projects?  Doesn't Microsoft, the world's
largest software company claim that they can port thier apps to any
platform they choose??

I have seen NT and use OS/2 and I think that if your (MS's) code was
written properly, a port to OS/2 should take only a few months.  Well,
were MS's apps written properly, or were they just kludgy bits of source
tied together?  I personally think it was the later, otherwise MS would
have used their own COMMDLG routines in WORD rather than writing different
ones that look like the ones COMMDLG.DLL.

Besides, getting back to the original argument of this thread, what's the
big secret if MS is working on OS/2 apps?  Are you guys afraid that if you
do admit that you are working on something that you will divert a market
shift to OS/2?  Is it possible that NT will be so late that any MS OS/2
apps would guarantee OS/2's success?  Or is MS really trying to cause OS/2
to fail so the market has to go to NT?  Is it possible that MS is still
trying to keep users tied to Win3.1/DOS simply because it's the real OS/2
competitor, and NT will require so much hardware that no one will buy it?

I'm not trying to be cynical :-), these are questions that many people
in the PC world have right now.  And MS's refusal to either produce an
OS/2 app or admit that they are working on something only raises suspicion
of their intentions.

I think what is really driving people to OS/2 is simply that it offers some
focus.  IBM will have OS/2 today and tommorrow too.  MS is already talking
about Windows CAIRO - Do you expect me to upgrade my system again in a
couple of years? :-(

I think that even most Windows advocates will be disappointed when NT arrives
and will flock to OS/2.  I currently have hardware for OS/2 - but not for
NT, nor do I have a wallet for NT at $500???.  Although NT, like OS/2 in
its day, will be technically superior to everything else, it requires far
too much hardware for anyone to use it.  The natural alternative will
be OS/2.

But enough of this.  Is MS working on OS/2 apps or not?  This is a question
that will never be truly answered.  You'll say no, but is this an honest
answer or not? In your (MS's) market position I'd do the same thing you
are doing.


Steven Gutz
AECL Research
Chalk River Laboratories
Chalk River Ontario
Canada K0J 1J0
GUTZ@CC49.CRL.AECL.CA