Date: 27 Aug 92 18:20:33 I thought some of the readers might be interested in Lee Reiswig's talk at the Windows and OS/2 Conference in Boston last week. He discussed the future of OS/2 as IBM sees it. Please excuse any misinterpretations I may have made in the following summary. He stated that IBM's strategy for the desktop and workstation OS's is 3-fold: 1) Dos on the low-end, 2) OS/2 in the middle, and 3)AIX on the high end. OS/2 will be split into 2 products, one the current desktop product will continue to be enhanced (Win 3.1, 32 bit GRE, improvements to the WPS and improvements to memory utilization so that systems with 4 MB RAM will really work, Pen and Multimedia extensions, etc.) A second OS/2 for servers and powerful workstations is being built that will be portable, run under a microkernal (MACH?), and be seamlessly integrated with AIX (AIX will be another subsytem under the microkernel) so that users may use both OS/2 and UNIX programs from the same desktop. The future of WPS is that it will be introduced in some form into DOS and into AIX (probably in the OS/2-AIX portable form) in order to unify the user interface. The WPS will be continually expanded in capacity so that it will provide a painless transition to the Taligent OS interface when it becomes available for those who are interested in migrating to the new platform. IBM intends Taligent to be able to run PM programs to protect users investments. Interesting echoes of MS strategy with WIN NT and CAIRO, except that OS/2 substitutes for Windows and CAIRO is not currently projected to be added to DOS (at least the rumors I read a while back). ------ 25th Sept 1992 ----- Today IBM Chicago held its monthly OS/2 User's Group meeting. This month's meeting was devoted, in large part, to a presentation by two OS/2 experts from Austin (mainly delivered by Don Crabtree). I thought I'd post a report on that meeting and what these two presented. Disclaimers: these aren't official IBM pronouncements, all information is subject to change, etc., etc. A lot was covered, so I'm bound to make some mistakes. Also, I am only familiar with half the acronyms, so bear with me. :-) Multimedia was largely glossed over in this presentation (since it will be the exclusive focus of an upcoming meeting), so I do not mention anything about MMPM/2 and other multimedia topics here. As of approximately two weeks ago, 1.4 million copies of OS/2 2.0 had left the factories, excluding internal copies, copies supplied to ISVs, promotional copies, and electronically delivered copies. IBM estimates that one million OS/2 2.0 users are now out there. Among notable products, WordPerfect 6.0 for OS/2 is set for an early first quarter 1993 release if all goes well. Hopes are still alive for a year end release, but the date could slip. A 32-bit Novell NetWare Server for OS/2 2.0 is expected at about the same time. The Developer's CD-ROM is now available. It contains full online programming and redbook documentation, Book Reader/2, beta versions of development tools (Workframe/2), OS/2 2.01 (beta, i.e. the Win-OS/2 3.1 update, etc.), LAN Server 3.0 beta, TCP/IP beta, C++ beta, and much more. The cost is approximately $30. I'll post details on how to obtain this CD-ROM in the near future in comp.os.os2.programmer. This product is part of the "new IBM," you might say: six weeks from conception to delivery. (Left unsaid was that it was a response to Microsoft's NT CD-ROM. It was also a one-up on them; these are beta, not "pre-beta" tools, there's a lot more on there in many ways, and it comes at a third the price.) IBM expects they'll have a second CD-ROM release in mid October -- a quick follow-on indeed. Now, where is OS/2 headed? By year end the following enhancements will be in place [meaning some will obviously be delivered well before December 31]: ** LAN Server 3.0. It will contain multiprocessing (asymmetric) and peer-to-peer features, among other things. ** 32-bit graphics engine. (*) ** SuperVGA drivers ("...representing 80 to 90 percent of the marketplace...") (*) ** Reduced memory requirements. A standalone OS/2 2.0 station which now requires 4.5 MB will be trimmed by one megabyte to 3.5 MB, i.e. OS/2 2.0 will really fit in 4 MB. (*) ** Improved performance (in addition to the RAM diet). (*) ** Windows enhancements (i.e. Win-OS/2 3.1 with TrueType, multimedia extensions, bitmaps, and applets). (*) ** Systems management enhancements. Specifically, remote network installation and remote network maintenance will be improved and will include more than LAN Server networks. ** LAN transport enhancements (i.e. NTS/2). NTS/2 contains additional protocol stacks (Appletalk (!), NetBIOS/BEUI, IPX, DECNet, OSI, SNA, etc.) All you need is a NDIS driver to run the whole show. NTS/2 can be ordered separately and will be included at no extra charge in such products as LAN Server, TCP/IP (presumably), and other network-related add-ons. ** First DCE toolkit. Programmers will be able to take advantage of DCE/RPC. The (*) items will be delivered widely, electronically (through such facilities as Internet ftp), as free updates. (Systems management enhancements will be enabled in the base product, but they aren't useful without a network requester and a server.) In 1993 ("OS/2 2.x"): ** Win32/Win32s API compatibility. This was a surprise, frankly. But it was there on the overhead transparency. [Just to editorialize, this could cut both ways. On the one hand OS/2 is essentially remaining a superset of Windows "forever," i.e. if you have OS/2 you can always run more. Meaning it is more attractive for consumers. On the other hand you might ask whether developers should write for the OS/2 API. But, then again, developers don't dictate OS markets, consumers do. If OS/2 is more popular, and, other things being equal, OS/2 users prefer native OS/2 applications over Win32 applications, then developers with native OS/2 versions will have an advantage. What would be truly bizarre (devious?) is if IBM implemented the Win32 API before Microsoft did, which is certainly possible with these new, modern OSes given that the API is rigidly defined. BUT I DIGRESS.] ** Security. B2 level features will be incorporated; C2 certifiable. Read on. ** Network thresholds enabled. Several customers expressed the need for reducing network traffic, and IBM is introducing this facility where you can, for example, set a spool threshold such that output for the printer won't cross the network until enough bytes have been spooled. At least, that's what I think they meant. ** Distributed PM and X client. Meaning your PM applications can execute on another machine across the network and display on your local machine, even a machine running X. (The reverse is already possible with Unix workstations, i.e. an X program executing on a Unix workstation can display on the OS/2 PC with TCP/IP plus the X server.) I should note at this point that the presenters pointed out that DOS will live into the late 90s, and that they plan on offering a version of the Workplace Shell for DOS. A WPS equipped DOS workstation could also participate in this fashion, with Distributed/PM, which would make a lot of 8088 and 80286 machines more useful. They admitted, however, that the performance would be less than stellar, simply because these machines are slow. But they would be put to good use. ** Pen/PM, i.e. support for pen input devices and paradigms. ** "Generic Client" support, meaning that network requesters from multiple vendors will ship in one package, and you just select which one(s) you want on installation. This package will be open to all network suppliers. In 1993 to 1994 ("OS/2 3.x"): ** DCE/RPC. This offering will solidify and expand across all IBM platforms in this time frame. ** POSIX compliance. ** C2 certification granted. (It takes approximately 12 months, and software is certified in combination with hardware.) ** Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP). ** Portability, based on the OSF/Mach 3.0 kernel. IBM should have a demonstration at Comdex/Fall of OS/2 running atop the OSF/Mach 3.0 kernel, a parallel database demonstration, and more. [The presenter noted that the OSF/Mach 3.0 kernel has advantages over the NT kernel, specifically, as an example, in I/O handling.] The missions given to Taligent and Kaleida were also discussed. In a nutshell, Taligent's mission is to borrow from the best of both IBM and Apple, create standards and enhancements, and license back technologies to the parent companies. Since IBM and Apple together control over 50% of the market in personal computers, they hope to promulgate standards more effectively in tandem. OS/2 and AIX will continue to evolve (as will DOS, for that matter, with the aforementioned WPS version). (It was left unsaid, but OS/2 will be the "mainstream" operating system while AIX will be targeted at markets where something more than POSIX compliance is demanded; I suspect there will be a lot of "cross polination" here, but that the two OS tracks will merge only as fast as the market dictates.) Taligent may itself offer its own operating system in the distant (in industry terms) future, but it was characterized as more of a niche, high end product rather than as a mass market item. Kaleida's mission is similar, namely to choose the best technologies from the parent companies, to standardize and enhance them, and to license them back to the parents (and promulgate them throughout the industry). However, it was admitted that Kaleida's mission will be much more difficult. Incidently, the naming of Pink was explained. When IBM and Apple met, the Apple representatives brought several 3x5 index cards, with components of their key technologies written on each card. These cards were tacked onto a bulletin board and were used in the negotiations. The cards describing features found in OBS (Object Based System, the Apple follow-on to Macintosh System 7) were pink. OBS was then referred to as Pink, and the name stuck. Pink is but one set of technologies from which Taligent will draw in creating a new set of standards for a new, object-oriented operating system. I've been to a couple of these Chicago meetings now, and this meeting had its share of chuckles (mainly arising out of questions from the audience). For example, one person asked whether "reduced requirements" meant that OS/2 2.0 would now operate on 80286 machines. (Answer: no, OS/2 1.3 remains the 80286 OS/2 offering.) Another asked whether 8088 and 80286 machines could be hooked up to AS/400 minicomputers to "boost" its processing power (by tying the machines together with DCE/RPC). (Answer: not really.) IBM customers, to some degree, remain a conservative, traditional group. Which is terrific, in some respects. But when was the 80386 introduced? 1985? Those 8088 machines just can't be obsolete. :-) Bundling was discussed. According to the presenter, OS/2 2.0 is now bundled with all IBM 386SX or better PS/2s, some PS/1s, and select Dell systems. (On other Dell systems it will be preloaded at the customer's request.) IBM is currently negotiating with nine other vendors who wish to bundle OS/2 2.0 with their systems. Also, hard drive manufacturers have approached IBM with interest in selling hard drives with OS/2 2.0 preloaded. The presenter also expects you'll see software bundling (e.g. systems bundled with, say, OS/2 2.0 and Lotus 1-2-3/G). So, that's where OS/2 is heading, in summary, according to the presentation.