OS/2 Comes of Age in New Version
IBM’s powerful personal computer operating system, OS/2, has reached a new level of maturity with shipment of version 2.1 set for this week.
While OS/2 no longer appears to be the next- generation operating system to replace DOS on tens of millions of computers with 386, 486 and Pentium microprocessors, there nonetheless seems to be a secure future for OS/2 2.1.
The new version adds compatibility with Windows 3.1, faster performance and a full suite of multimedia features, including support for music and full-motion 30-frames-per-second digital video with synchronized soundtrack.
It is published by IBM’s Personal Software Products division, with promotional pricing for the next 90 days of $99 on a CD-ROM disk or $119 on 25 (that’s right, 25) diskettes. The regular price is $249.
OS/2 is at its best where simultaneous tasks need to be performed, such as on network file servers, but it also brings a lot of power to stand-alone computer systems. IBM says it has shipped 2 million copies of version 2.0 in the last year.
The new version, like the old, is a true multi-tasking operating system utilizing the full 32-bit processing capabilities of 386 and 486 chips. The previous version supported only Windows 3.0 programs and lacked the multimedia and high-resolution monitor support of the new version.
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But the real problem with OS/2 has never been its performance. It is the lack of software to take advantage of its features.
When Microsoft Corp. pulled out of OS/2 development with IBM about two years ago to concentrate on Windows, most software publishers abandoned OS/2 as well.
Only a few mainstream publishers, most notably Lotus Development Corp., have persevered with OS/2 versions of some of their DOS and Windows favorites.
That’s not such a big problem, however, since most DOS and Windows programs will run as well or better under OS/2. You don’t need Windows or DOS on the computer to run those programs either--just OS/2 2.1.
Meanwhile, smaller developers have taken advantage of its multi-tasking abilities in designing specialized programs targeted for specific businesses and industries.
An operating system is software that every computer must have. It acts as the system’s manager and interpreter, allocating hardware resources to application programs (such as word processors or spreadsheets) as needed.
DOS, which OS/2 was designed to replace, is an old-fashioned operating system whose origins date from 1981, when computers were puny compared to today’s machines. It can do only one task at a time and it makes poor use of the large amounts of random-access memory, or RAM, commonly available these days.
However, DOS requires much less disk storage space and operating memory than OS/2. You should have 40 megabytes of empty disk storage available for a full OS/2 installation, and that’s not even counting room for programs. A 100-megabyte hard drive is about the minimum practical size for OS/2. The operating system can get by with 4 megabytes of RAM, but at least 6 megabytes is desirable, and the more the better. A year ago, those requirements seemed large. But even the cheapest computer configurations sold today are adequate with the inexpensive addition of a few extra megabytes of RAM.
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Still, OS/2 is not for everyone. Casual computer users probably shouldn’t buy and install it unless they really do have trouble finding enough free memory under DOS to run their programs. OS/2 can easily make more memory available for DOS programs than DOS can. If all you do is run Windows programs, it is better to stay with Windows.
Computer hobbyists would probably enjoy using OS/2. Its “desktop” graphics user interface is different than Windows and in many ways more powerful.
With a hard drive of 200 megabytes or larger, it is quite practical to install OS/2 so that you can run your computer either as a DOS/Windows machine or an OS/2 machine without one mode interfering with the other. But it is more difficult to use OS/2’s excellent high-performance file system, allowing file names up to 256 characters, if you want to run the computer both ways.
OS/2 makes quite economical use of memory and storage space compared to Windows NT, Microsoft’s answer to OS/2 that is planned for delivery later this year. Windows NT needs 16 megabytes of RAM and a 500-megabyte hard drive, and will be targeted to network users, not stand-alone systems.
