A few qustions about OS/2:
So, can OS/2 run most Windows programs without difficulty? (That’s what I gathered, at least)
Also, how long have you been running OS/2? How do you get it? Does IBM still give tech support?
i’m guessing that OS/2 does not run current windows programs (something developed for say XP) as well as it does the older stuff. but, then again, XP is based on NT, and NT is based on the same exact code as OS/2 (or that’s what my dad told me).
i was just thinking of something else rather interesting. my dad used to work for IBM, so he has many friends that work(ed) for IBM. about 8 or 9 years ago, i moved to LI, and everyone else moved (from the Kingston, NY area, where IBM shut down a building). so, when we have old friends over, they all talk about how they were quite literally outside the door when the executives at IBM decided not to buy out Gates, cause it would be bad business practices. it’s quite interesting to think what would have happened if someone who was smart ran through the door yelling “BUY OUT GATES!!” :p. i’d love to know how things would have turned out without microsoft coming and super marketing his horribly unstable version of OS/2 :D.
*Originally posted by Jeff Waegelin *
**A few qustions about OS/2:So, can OS/2 run most Windows programs without difficulty? (That’s what I gathered, at least)
Also, how long have you been running OS/2? How do you get it? Does IBM still give tech support? **
Well Sortof, Os/2 can run windows 3.1 programs better than NT or XP can and a lot of simple windows 32 bits like AIM will run if you try them under Odin (which converts them, its a partner project to WINE for you linux guys)
I’ve been using it for about 4 to 5 years mostly because my dad had been using it since it came out. But you can still order it from IBM or better yet the new company that is taking the base product and adding new features to it kind of like a Linux distro at www.ecomstation.com. ecomstation=Os/2 with more features
As for technical support IBM is commited to providing bug fixes until the year 2007. Which is better than any Microsoft product. How long did it take them to drop ME?
So anyway I think Os/2 is better and thats what i use and enjoy. It doesn’t run all the latest games so I do need to boot windows occasionally, but when its one o’clock in the morning and I need to type a report i know when i boot up my PC it won’t crash half way through and make me lose everything.
As a professional programmer and system administrator for the past 20 years, I’ve always been a Unix fan.
I’ve been using Linux for over 5 years now and I wouldn’t change, though I am tempted by the new Macs running OS X (FreeBSD variant).
I used to have one of the original Macs and a Mac II. Those were good machines back then, but Apple failed to stay ahead of Windows with the OS. Now they’ve caught up and surpassed Windows with OS X.
I will eventually be retiring my wife’s PII Windows PC and replacing it with a Mac. My son will get a new Windows PC just because of the games we have.
The wife’s old PII PC will be relegated to the basement lab as a robotics development machine.
Windows, I’ve found, just was never reliable enough without having to be reloaded now and then. Of all the Windows versions, I find Windows 2000 to be the most stable of them all.
As far as number crunching power goes, I like the 64 bit Alphas, but the PowerPCs are pretty fast too. I’m waiting on the 64 bit AMD Hammer chip.
Apple last year hired a market research group to conduct a survey at Melbourne University - which operates a mixed network with thousands of computers- to see how the costs of operating Mac’s versus PC’s worked out.
The Macs were found to be 36 percent less costly to operate.
Here is one link I found that gives the whole story:
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,4558411^15423^^nbv^15309,00.html
So if Macs are cheaper to operate, why are there more Windows machines in use.
Years ago (in the beginning…), Apple had the majority of the PC market with the Apple II, but then IBM stepped into the market with the original IBM PC, and took over the market. (The Apple III was a big failure. Besides, people knew that “no one ever got fired for buying IBM”.)
Bill Gates made a deal with Apple to support the Mac (with Microsoft Word and Excel) in exchange for the rights to use aspects of the Mac OS, and he created Windows. (I recall reading somewhere, that Bill Gates originally wanted to help Apple to spread it’s Mac OS to other platforms, but Apple didn’t go for it. Too greedy I guess.)
So while Apple was still being very proprietory, new companies were starting up and whipping out PC clones left, right and center. IBM lost control of their own market. They tried to come out with a more proprietory version (with a patented Micro Channel Bus for plugging in perpherals) but it was too late. The PC world didn’t need IBM any more. So here we are with a gazillion PC clones and only one Mac (although Apple did allow cloning agreements for a while.)
However now that all the new Macs use a version of Unix, it seems that Microsoft may become the odd man out. Of course only time will tell, but it appears that the Linux/Solaris crowd has much more in common with Mac OS X now than with Windows, and I suspect that we will see a lot of software being ported from the Unix world to the Mac. It’s going to be interesting.
but once again, to the casual teenage computer user, windows will be the OS of choice. why? simple, something close to all the games that most people want run only in windows. the ones that do run on mac are only converted way after the original came out for windows. so, as long as we’re playing games, and games are created for windows, windows will be the OS of choice.
After the painful times of Windows 3.1, I finally upgraded to my first PC with Windows 95. With my Pentium 1 and 8 mb of memory I was flying in the world of computers.
Well, then the computer evolution came blowing everything out of porportion into large numbers, and I had to get a new computer. Well this new state of the art machine I got had 128 mb, 10Gb, Celeron 500, and Windows 98. This was perfect for me in the computer world. Well, I decided to get new memory in June, and after wanting to get my computer in top shape, I found out my hard drive had died. So after many $$$$ later, I now have an almost new machine with 256 mb, 60 Gb ATA 133 7200 RPM Hard Drive, and Windows XP!
I can’t say anything bad against XP yet except for one thing: it may be something as simple as security settings, but I am unable to access many pages on the internet. Including both the FIRST page, my team page, and the Pennsylvania website. Any suggestions?
If I had the patience to try it out, and my mom would feel like learning about a new OS, I would really like to give Linux a fair chance. However, I have always shunned away from Macs, and will never own one.
at one point i know macs used dos as an opperating system which is the system that gates first created
*Originally posted by jk2005 *
**at one point i know macs used dos as an opperating system which is the system that gates first created **
Gates bought (read: stole) QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System) way back in the day.
I need to research this more, and I’m working from seeing Pirates of Silicon Valley, but I know for a fact that Bill Gates did not write DOS…
i thought he did sorry my mistake i only saw part of that movie
*Originally posted by Ian W. *
**but once again, to the casual teenage computer user, windows will be the OS of choice. why? simple, something close to all the games that most people want run only in windows. the ones that do run on mac are only converted way after the original came out for windows. so, as long as we’re playing games, and games are created for windows, windows will be the OS of choice. **
Ahh, but that’s the advantage of dual-booting. The less things you install under windows the less of a chance you have of blowing up the system. That’s why I boot windows to play games and then use Os/2 for everything else. That way when windows(Fillin which ever version Microsoft is currently shoving down our throats) blows up I don’t lose anything important.
*Originally posted by DougHogg *
**Apple last year hired a market research group to conduct a survey at Melbourne University - which operates a mixed network with thousands of computers- to see how the costs of operating Mac’s versus PC’s worked out.The Macs were found to be 36 percent less costly to operate.
Here is one link I found that gives the whole story:
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,4558411^15423^^nbv^15309,00.html
So if Macs are cheaper to operate, why are there more Windows machines in use.
Years ago (in the beginning…), Apple had the majority of the PC market with the Apple II, but then IBM stepped into the market with the original IBM PC, and took over the market. (The Apple III was a big failure. Besides, people knew that “no one ever got fired for buying IBM”.)
Bill Gates made a deal with Apple to support the Mac (with Microsoft Word and Excel) in exchange for the rights to use aspects of the Mac OS, and he created Windows. (I recall reading somewhere, that Bill Gates originally wanted to help Apple to spread it’s Mac OS to other platforms, but Apple didn’t go for it. Too greedy I guess.)So while Apple was still being very proprietory, new companies were starting up and whipping out PC clones left, right and center. IBM lost control of their own market. They tried to come out with a more proprietory version (with a patented Micro Channel Bus for plugging in perpherals) but it was too late. The PC world didn’t need IBM any more. So here we are with a gazillion PC clones and only one Mac (although Apple did allow cloning agreements for a while.)
However now that all the new Macs use a version of Unix, it seems that Microsoft may become the odd man out. Of course only time will tell, but it appears that the Linux/Solaris crowd has much more in common with Mac OS X now than with Windows, and I suspect that we will see a lot of software being ported from the Unix world to the Mac. It’s going to be interesting. **
Windows became the dominant OS in a very interesting way. It was half because of bad decisions of Apple executives, and half because of Microsoft winning the famous court case, saying the GUI didn’t belong to anyone. Apple thought the they were the only GUI that could ever exist. So they made all of their hardware and software so different that Windows. They also didn’t license their OS to other computer companies. They also charged developers for “the privilege to write Macintosh Software.” Which were all really bad decisions. After Windows 3.1 came out and Steve Jobs was fired, the Mac was left to rot by 3 really bad CEO’s that did nothing to stabilize the Mac. In mid-1997 with Apple almost facing certain bankruptcy, Steve Jobs returned as CEO and completely re-amped the company. He joined the partnership with Microsoft, introduced the iMac, and completely new computers, and whole lot of new software that brought the company back to profitability. Over the past 5 years Apple completely redid its entire company plan, by using PC standards like USB, PCI, and so on, that stabilized the company. Mac OS X introduced almost 2 years ago was an OS that was based on standards, in response to Microsoft moving away from open standards, and inventing their own standards. Anyways, its a really intrusting OS battle out their. With the 2 OS’s being Windows XP, Unix(Mac OS X)/Linux. Since Microsoft had their anti-trust law suit, they actually trying to loose market share, and make software for Mac, so Microsoft can remain a whole company. Microsoft and Apple will be around for a long time, how long, who knows, depends on what happens to market. In conclusion, both companies are completely different now, than what they were 10 years ago.
Just a side note on game side. At the recent E3 conference a month ago, a company has a product in the works that using its own graphical type programming language specially deigned for 3d games, and can be converted to PC, Mac OS X, PS2, X-box, and the Cube very easily. Which will considerably cut cost and make their product more widely available.
*Originally posted by Ian W. *
**but once again, to the casual teenage computer user, windows will be the OS of choice. why? simple, something close to all the games that most people want run only in windows. the ones that do run on mac are only converted way after the original came out for windows. so, as long as we’re playing games, and games are created for windows, windows will be the OS of choice. **
At one time, all the computer games ran on the Apple II. In other words, markets can shift over time. Sure, the PC will be the most popular gaming computer for a while. However did you happen to notice that Warcraft III, the biggest game release in history, was released on the Mac and PC simultaneously. In fact the same disk works on both operating systems. If the Mac gains market share (which I believe is occurring), more people will make games for it, and then more people will buy it, etc. In other words, there will be a rolling snow ball effect.
Basically the Mac has to crack the business market. If that happens in a big way, the Mac will take off.
With Mac OS X, Unix programmers finally have a way to create a program that your grandmother can use. And there are a lot of unix programmers who are very good at what they do.
Five years from now, I expect to see that the Mac/Unix world has gained a lot of market share from Windows, and we will have kick-%%% games coming out of our ears. Why? Because a lot of those unix programmers hate Microsoft (because of it’s destruction of Netscape- the company, and it’s tight licensing activities, to name just a couple of reasons) but those programmers need an outlet for their creativity. In fact, one of the reasons that unix programmers work on Linux for free is so that they don’t have to use Microsofts products. (Linux is free.) Maybe Apple will be able to maintain a better relationship with those programmers, in which case the sky is the limit.
It could be a whole new ball game which makes me happy.
I remember a Windows 95 computer that crashed at our school. I went to reiinstall Windows 95 but the computer told me that it was the wrong Windows 95 disk. I tried every Windows 95 disk we had–about 5 of them, and I got the same message. So I erased the hard disk. But of course then the CD drive wouldn’t work. So I had to find a CD driver to put on the floppy boot disk. When I finally got Windows installing, the computer asked for my OEM (original equipment manufacturer) number, which I didn’t have because it was a donated computer. That was just the beginning of the saga. It took about 8 weeks to get that computer going again.
On a Mac, you hold down the “C” key and the computer boots off the CD. And I have never needed a OEM number to install the Mac OS.
Now with OS X, I expect that we won’t have to worry about reinstalling the OS. OS X is unix with a pretty face, and unix was around before Windows was in diapers. The result is that OS X has all the bells and whistles of a modern operating system, with the bugs gotten out.
Like I said, it’s going to be a whole new ball game.
*Originally posted by Kyle Fenton *
**
They also charged developers for “the privilege to write Macintosh Software.” Which were all really bad decisions.Just a side note on game side. At the recent E3 conference a month ago, a company has a product in the works that using its own graphical type programming language specially deigned for 3d games, and can be converted to PC, Mac OS X, PS2, X-box, and the Cube very easily. Which will considerably cut cost and make their product more widely available. **
Have you ever taken a look at the Microsoft developer kit. The tools you need to produce commercial products is in the thousands.
I am also 95% sure that the new language your talking about is a set of new java instructions specifically designed for games.
*Originally posted by Jim Giacchi *
**I am also 95% sure that the new language your talking about is a set of new java instructions specifically designed for games. **
I believe he’s talking about Nvidia’s newest thing, Cg, or C for Graphics…
You can read more about it at a few different places:
Too lazy to look up more stuff right now…
hmm, where to start…
dual boots, well, linux and windows dual boots dont’ work all that well, unless you have a huge partitioned HD. so, in that case, i rebuilt an old PC to run linux, so i could learn it. i managed to get samba to work, but then forgot every command cause i’m a mornon. so, now i have a nice stable file server. the computer has been running for several weeks now, without a reboot. quite amazing, cause i usually had to reboot my windows PC at least once a day.
about the OS/2 / windows dual boot, that’s an interesting idea, i may try to get a copy of OS/2, although my dad will probably laugh at me (he thinks that OS/2 is outdated, which, it sort of is)… 
as to all the games, i wasn’t aware that warcraft III came out for both mac and pc (i haven’t gotten it). if macs start getting the larger share of computer games, i would gladly switch over to macs, and relearn the OS. that’s another problem. many people have been ‘brought up’ on windows. i struggled with linux, even in the GUI, to learn where everything is. i still struggle with linux, because it’s still completely new. the fact that each GUI is different doesn’t help.
all in all, i’d love to see microsoft shot down, and for IBM and Apple to come back as the top players. their OS’s are much better, and they have much longer lives. also, with the rumors i’ve heard about windows pallidan, well, i’m not too thrilled with microsoft.
another interesting disney tidbit…
this year during nats, me and my friends went to MGM. so, we go on tower of terror. of course, we all make crazy faces and such for the pic (i think that time we were all in the 'Rock On" pose :p). so, we get out, and rush to the moniters. instead of a picture, we see the windows 2000 server logo. we went to rocking roller coaster, same thing happened. we had a huge laugh about windows and it’s instability. i wonder if they ever fixed the problem…
I sure hope 2K isnt running the actual ride! 