From: roe2@ellis.uchicago.edu (Cave Newt)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Chicago Comdex, Free OS/2, Great time had by all, etc., etc.
Summary: the little stuff
Date: 9 Apr 92 04:14:25 GMT
Reply-To: roe2@midway.uchicago.edu
Organization: University of Chicago

--MS @ OS/2 LIVE:
Many other people have reported on this, so I'll only add what I haven't
seen.  I, too, was at the OS/2 Live demo, and I had the pleasure (seriously,
heh heh :-) ) of sitting next to a Microsoft employee.  He was very quiet.  
The only utterances I heard out of him were (1) sour grapes (true, but still
sour grapes) about how the Windows support didn't include Windows Enhanced 
mode; (2) when they showed the little New Hampshire store selling power PCs 
and OS/2 to neophytes: "he was using a Microsoft mouse!"; and a couple of 
not-quite-audible comments that actually sounded as though he might have 
been impressed about something (!!).  I could be wrong, though.  He didn't 
clap once during the whole show, either (I tried to make up for him, though
:-) ).

--GIVEAWAYS:
Unfortunately I had to leave right at 2, so I missed the very end of the show
(including what I supposed would be a large giveaway of shrink-wrapped copies,
since they were stacked all over the place).  But I had more time and persis-
tence today, and it paid off!  Yes, I'm another of the 3000 who got a free
copy, just for asking a 1.3 question. :-)  They seemed to be giving out a lot
more copies today than either Monday or Tuesday--in fact, I had to stand in
line behind about 5 other people who were all trying to redeem their cards at
the same time I was.  Should be a mob scene tomorrow. :-)

--TICKET PRICE:
For the guy who asked about the admission price:  $75 for an exhibits-only
pass "at the gate."  The show is overwhelming but worth seeing (especially
for some of us--no, I'm not too proud to gloat, either :-) ).

Other observations of the "fun" stuff:

--BUTTONS:
I didn't see anyone else mention it, but the IBM folks are using the same
"button method" for the giveaways as they did at Fall Comdex--a white "I
want OS/2 2.0" button for those as ain't got it yet (the blue IBM bags also
work); and red "I won OS/2 2.0" and blue "I have OS/2" buttons for those
who got lucky.  I saw the buttons just about everywhere (though I haven't
gotten over to the Windows building yet to look around there).

--ANIMATED DEMO:
The animated, interactive "Ozzy" demo was hilarious (getting squirted from 
the TV monitor to the PC screen and back:  "Hey!  Going was a lot better 
than coming...which is weird, when you think about it.  Steve--I'll give 
you five bucks to do it again." :-) ), and all watching received mouse pads
and the white pins.  In addition, those sitting in the 18 or so chairs 
received "OS/2 delivers" caps of various colors, and those in the front 
row were greeted and/or insulted periodically by Ozzy.

--HANDS-ON:
The IBM hands-on area at the other end of the building (BIG building...)
had about 80 PCs running 2.0 and was *very* popular--no more than one or
two spots were available at any time, if that many.  It was nice to try out
2.0 on a fast machine with decent graphics.

--TV:
Peripherally related to OS/2 (so to speak), IBM had a big "UltiMedia" booth
showing, among other things, the "PS/2 TV."  It was a lot of fun--and the
name is something of a misnomer, since it will work on any PC with a VGA
or XGA (goes between the monitor and the PC, cable-wise and physically).  It
runs under both OS/2 and Windows (OS/2 2.0 at the show, of course) and worked
either full-screen or in a window (the perfect PC--watch Star Trek and play
Tetris during the commercials :-) ).  It contains its own 181-channel tuner
and speaker (and headphone jack, of course), and requires only a cable or
antenna input.  Buttons on-screen control the volume and channel, and you
can bring up a secondary window which allows you to set the tuner presets
and adjust the brightness, contrast, and so on.  List price is $495, but
a special show discount gets it for $399.

--ZIP:
I talked to a guy at the PKWare booth, and he said (1) PKZIP 2.0 (or what-
ever version number they give it) will be out this quarter for sure, and 
(2) an OS/2 version with full HPFS and EA support (and I *think* he said 
32-bit code) will ship after that.  He also said it was fine with them if 
Info-ZIP released Zip 2.0/UnZip 5.0 first, so we probably will.

--PC MAG:
They had lots of free copies of the current (28 Apr) issue, in which OS/2 2.0
and Windows 3.1 are both covered and, to some extent, compared/contrasted.
Windows seemed to get the bigger share (surprise!), but the OS/2 article was
pretty decent.  (Of course, even *that* had a sidebar on NT in it...)

Greg Roelofs
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc