From: stoen@katana.eng.hou.compaq.com (Rick Stoen)
Subject: Re: Benefits of OS/2?
Organization: Compaq Computer Corp.
Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1992 18:31:27 GMT

In article <4107@sumax.seattleu.edu>, khamer@sumax.seattleu.edu (Little Kenny Hamer) writes:
> Item 2: Mutitasking
> 
>       This does seem to be the battle cry these days.  Sorry, I must be a 
> neanderthal, but I do not really multitask.  Nor does anyone I have ever seen
> (at least on a personal computer...  ).  People keep multiple apps open at
> a time, but few actually *use* tham at the same time.  By way of example:
> 
Have you ever seen someone running a clock in a window? Do they shut
it down before starting any applications? Welcome to the wonderful
world of multitasking! Most people get hung up on multitasking being
things like recalculating a spreadsheet while they edit a document, or
formatting a floppy while they download a file while they compile a
program while they play tetris. Don't get me wrong these are great
examples and I do things like that all the time.

The other type of multitasking is all the little things that are
running. For example the clock, the screen saver, the keyboard locker,
the free memory counter, the eyes that follow the cursor, your
favorite Unix cron clone, your pop-up meeting reminder, etc. If you
are on a network you might (like I do) have some daemons running
(telnet, ftp, rsh, inet, snmp, etc), you mave have sendmail running.
If I had the drivers I would have Banyan Vines running, etc. I know
someone is going to say, "Well, I can do all that with Windows". I
think if you tried OS/2 you would see how much easier, faster, and
more robust these things are when you have OS support.

Once you escape the Windows induced task switching closet there is a
whole big world out there. You should check it out sometime, it is
kind of fun out here.

>
>      DOS:  Each time you want to change what you are working on, you must clean
>            Up your Desk, Put everything away, and start over.
> 
>      WIN:  (The way I use it)  Work on one thing at at time, but your desk has
>            everything strewn all over it in a nice, comfy manner.  Easy to
>            switch from task to task.
> 
>      OS/2:  Everything all over your desk, and you are doing several tasks 
>             at once.
> 
> I do not work in the final manner, nor in the first example.  Therfore, 
> "multitasking" on my PC holds no appeal, as I already work the way I wish.  

Think of OS/2 as having a virtually unlimited number of people in your
office doing everything for you. Let the machine do the work that is
what it's for.

========================================================================
|  Rick Stoen                      |                                   |
|  Systems Engineer                |      Phone: (713) 374-4514        |
|  Compaq Computer Corporation     |      FAX:   (713) 374-7305        |
|  P.O. Box 692000 - M050701       |      EMail: stoen@compaq.com      |
|  Houston, TX 77269-2000          |                                   |
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Disclaimer: The views expressed here are my own, and do not reflect
            those of my employer.