From: pathak@mitre.org (Heeren Pathak)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Subject: Re: Could OS/2 be too late to be a good thing?
Date: 26 Jan 93 14:20:33 GMT
Followup-To: comp.os.os2.advocacy
Distribution: comp
Organization: Mitre Corporation

In article <GKUSHMER.93Jan25212745@jade.tufts.edu>, gkushmer@jade.tufts.edu
(Greg Kushmerek) wrote:
> 
> I could only wonder - is OS/2 too late to be a good thing?  I mean, object-
> oriented based os' are supposed to be able to interact with programs in such
> a way that all programs can "talk" or interact with each other without any 
> trouble.  OS/2 provides this kind of an environment to some extent, but not
> (so far as I understand it) because of it being object oriented.  Instead,
> OS/2 seems to do this more as a programming accomplishment.
> 
> So with all these object-oriented os' coming out, is OS/2 never going to
> get a chance to fly?  Will NT for that matter?  I mean IBM and Apple are
> developing Taligent while MS is doing Cairo.  It makes me wonder: in
> three to five years no one will care how well these os' (NT, OS/2) perform
> when they are so archaic in the steps you need to make programs cooperate
> with each other.
> 

Taligent is a joint project by Apple and IBM to develop an object-oriented
OS.  It is based on Apple's "Pink" project and IBM's Metaphor(???) project.
 Portions of OS/2 will be included in Taligent.  From what I understand,
the SOM technology in OS/2 is going to be included into Taligent.  There is
also talk of the new OS/2 3.0 microkernal being included in Taligent but
last I heard, a decision hasn't been made yet.  Futhermore, IBM has stated
that they will provide a clear path from OS/2 to Taligent.  They plan on
added technology developed for Taligent into OS/2 gradually.

Personally, I am very skeptical about Microsoft's Cairo project.  News of
such a project only came out fairly recently, after IBM and Apple formed
Taligent.  This leads me to believe that unlike NT, Cairo is something MS
just started working on recently.  Taligent is based on something that IBM
and Apple have been working on for years so I am much more confident that
something useful will come out of Taligent vs Cairo.

> Then, on the other hand, I know that NeXTStep is based on the Mach Kernal and
> I hear that OS/2 is moving towards being based on that kernal as well.  Would
> this soften the blow of object-oriented os'?  Or would such a kernal in
> OS/2 actually make it object-oriented?
> 

The Mach micro-kernal wouldn't make OS/2 object-oriented.  However, the
Mach Kernal will make it easier to move to an object-oriented.  An
object-oriented OS needs a robust inter-object messaging system.  A
micro-kernal make no assumptions on how various processes communicatate
with each other so the micro-kernal will facilitate the addition of
Taligent technology.  Note, NT already has a micro-kernal architechure so
IBM needs to play catchup in this area. 

> I love using OS/2, and it seems to do so much.  But after talking with my
> programmer friend, I could only wonder if it will only have a short 
> life in the business world.

IMHO, anyone that tells you that it will or won't is flat-out lying.  OS/2
is a very good OS in its own right and agruably a commercial success for
IBM.  Many consulting services and other market guru's have gone from
predicting OS/2's quick and horrible death to wondering how well it will
do.  Market share predictions for OS/2 have been steadily growing as more
and more people start taking a serious look at it.  The biggest problem
with OS/2 has been the lack of marketing by IBM.  Various people at IBM
have stated that they plan on a much more aggressive marketing effort. 
Hopefully, this is going to be true.  


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heeren Pathak                      | Millions long for immortality who do 
pathak@mitre.org                   | not know what to do with themselves
Mitre Corporation                  | on a rainy Sunday afternoon.
(617) 271-7465                     |	               	-- Susan Ertz
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Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy