OS/2 Will Usher In a New PC Era
In the short history of computing, there never has been a technology transition comparable to the one now under way for IBM PCs and compatible computers. Over the next several years, virtually every computer user will be affected.
That’s because a new, much more powerful operating system, OS/2, has come out. It will supersede MS-DOS, which has been the standard since IBM introduced the PC in 1981.
The new operating system will allow some existing programs to run a bit faster, but its greatest virtue is paving the way for a new generation of software that can use more computer memory and run up to a dozen tasks simultaneously. Eventually, OS/2 will become the dominant operating system. MS-DOS will be relegated to second-class status, used mainly on older machines, although it will continue to be sold and supported for years to come.
The adoption of OS/2 will be hastened by IBM’s announcement last week that it will license to other manufacturers the technology used to build its new PS/2 line of personal computers, even though you don’t need a PS/2 machine to run OS/2.
The reason is that IBM’s new design will become the standard for the most powerful computers, those using 80386 microprocessors, which until now have lacked a standard architecture. The existence of a standard will encourage users to buy more powerful computers, increasing the demand for the more powerful operating system.
Among hardware components, nothing produces as dramatic a change as new generations of microprocessor chips, the brains of the computer. New microprocessors invariably run faster and are able to understand and execute more kinds of programming instructions than their predecessors.
Thus, four years ago, when IBM introduced the first personal computer with an Intel 80286 microprocessor, a new era in data processing was made possible. And in the fall of 1986, when Compaq brought out the first computer with the even more powerful Intel 80386 chip, you would have expected yet another computer revolution.
It wasn’t that simple, however.
True, each new generation of hardware brought speedier operation of existing programs, but the programs have remained essentially the same because the operating system required to interpret the programs to the hardware had not changed.
Parade Is Lengthening
An operating system is like a building manager. It allocates the computer’s resources among the various programs that seek to use them. MS-DOS manages the computer as if it were a building with only one tenant at a time. OS/2 manages it as a skyscraper is managed, allocating space among a lot of tenants (programs) and making sure their needs don’t conflict.
Microsoft Corp. developed OS/2 with IBM, and IBM is developing its own enhanced versions, which will be known as “extended edition” when they are released later this year.
Meanwhile, several other computer manufacturers have licensed Microsoft’s standard OS/2 for their computers, among them Compaq and Zenith. More will follow over the next several months.
Software designers will create new programs that take advantage of the features of the new operating system, and the ultimate result will be more powerful computing.
Gaining that advantage will be costly, however, at least for the next couple of years. Users will need to own a computer capable of running OS/2, which means a PC AT or PS/2-compatible machine with either an 80286 or 80386 microprocessor and at least 3 million characters of operating memory called random access memory (RAM). Then they will have to buy OS/2, which costs $325 or $795, depending on the version, and, finally, they will have to buy new OS/2-compatible application programs.
The result will be a new level of computing. For one thing, OS/2 will be able to run programs and operate on large files that far exceed the limit of 640,000 characters that exists for programs using MS-DOS. OS/2 can use up to 16 million characters of operating memory. But it also can treat disk storage as if it were operating memory, giving programs a “virtual memory” that spans up to 48 million characters of software instruction and data.
Another major improvement is the ability to run up to a dozen programs simultaneously. Even more important is that no program will be able to interfere with any other program, which means that program bugs should rarely, if ever, lock up your computer.
The version of OS/2 now available is easy to install and will seem familiar to users of MS-DOS. It uses all of the familiar commands, such as DIR to display a directory of files, DEL to delete a file and COPY to copy a file.
What Went Wrong
There is even the familiar C prompt. (Disk drives in PCs are named by letters of the alphabet, and the convention is to name the first hard disk in a machine “C.”)
Something new with OS/2 are the extensive help messages. You can get on-screen instructions at the touch of a key and, if you make a mistake or there is an error, a message appears to tell you what went wrong.
Also new is the “Session Manager” screen that serves as the central command point for OS/2. It divides the computer screen vertically down the middle. On the left side appears a list of the programs that can be run. A separate list on the right side shows what programs are currently running. No matter what programs are running, pressing two keys simultaneously (Ctrl and Esc) returns you to the Session Manager screen so that you can keep track of what’s going on.
At a recent exposition in Los Angeles conducted by IBM to showcase OS/2 for corporate users, software publishers were enthusiastic about the advantages offered by the new operating system.
Kevin Campbell, product support manager for Z-Soft, which was showing a prototype of its new Publisher’s Paintbrush program, said it runs about 20% faster than the MS-DOS version because of the greater memory available with OS/2.
“With OS/2 we ask for memory and we get it,” Campbell said, explaining how easy it is for program designers to tap the new power.
Steve Kusmer, project manager for Software Publishing’s Harvard Total Project Manager, said his program is much faster under OS/2. He attributed that to being able to access more memory and to being able to use the so-called multi-tasking feature to simultaneously perform several functions.
Kusmer said that being able to print large performance charts while working on another task at the same time will be of great benefit to users.
IBM and Microsoft officials say they expect OS/2 to become the operating system of choice, but it won’t happen this year and probably not even next year.
The only people who need to buy OS/2 now are software developers and those who wish to experiment with the new system. By year’s end, it is expected that only about 150 OS/2 programs will be on the market. Another 1,000 OS/2 programs are expected to be introduced in 1989.
Even after new software proliferates, users will undoubtedly wait, as they should, until there is a compelling reason to switch. In other words, OS/2 will need an application that does what the Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet program did to popularize MS-DOS or that Aldus PageMaker did to popularize desktop publishing on Apple’s Macintosh.
There are two great advantages in waiting awhile to adopt OS/2. One is that most of the unknown factors in making the switch will disappear as initial bugs are ironed out and program standards emerge. The other is that the hardware required to run OS/2 will get cheaper.
IBM already has said it expects to sell 80286-equipped computers in a year as cheaply as its bottom-of-the-line 8086 computers sell for now and that in two years, that will be true for some models of its top-of-the-line 80386 computers.
In the meanwhile, an inexpensive way for technically oriented readers to get their feet wet is to buy one of the several excellent texts that have just been published to explain how OS/2 works and how to program for it. Titles are available from Osborne McGraw-Hill and Microsoft, and should be on computer and software dealers’ bookshelves and in major bookstores.
Computer File welcomes readers’ comments but regrets that the author cannot respond individually to letters. Write to Richard O’Reilly, Computer File, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, Calif. 90053.
