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Letter to Editor predicting triumph of Windows over OS/2
Source: SAA Age Published: Apr 1991
In 1991 IBM and Microsoft had started to compete aggressively with each other over the future of the PC. IBM was touting its OS/2, a new and full function operating system for its latest generation of PC’s. Microsoft was pushing Windows 3.0, its add on to DOS. Windows was easier to install and use, but less capable than OS/2. This competition, with Microsoft winning, defined the computer industry for the remainder of the 90’s decade. George Schussel, a user of both DOS/Windows and OS/2 had the vision to correctly predict the outcome of this operating system war.
Some interesting quotes from the open letter by Schussel are:
- It appears that perhaps you were wearing your Big Blue sunshades when this article was written! The overall tone of your article was that OSD and Presentation Manager represent the true religion and that Windows 3.0 is an annoying diversion. I got the distinct impression that you were advising SAA Age readers not to stray from the true path of OS/2 and Presentation Manager.
- I’d like to take the opportunity in this letter to disagree with what I think are your conclusions and, to point out why the vast majority of users are, in fact, choosing Windows over Presentation Manager and will continue to do so in the future.
- If a finger must be pointed, it should be at IBM for continuing a hard sell of a product the users don’t seem to want. For well over 90% of all PC users, a migration to the DOS Windows 3.0 environment is much more natural than moving to OS/2 and Presentation Manager. After all, given the choice, no one really wants to move from an operating system whose documentation is one inch thick (DOS) to an operating system (OS12) whose documentation is five feet thick!
- Since 1987, IBM‘s attempts to position OSl2 as the replacement for DOS, have been
stymied by the fact that the installation, support and hardware requirements for the OS/2-Presentation Manager combination are viewed as overwhelming by DOS platform users. A good example of this, Geoff – the other day I was speaking with the Senior Vice President of a local software firm who said that selling OS/2-based tools was analogous to trying to sell a dead dog as a pet! A little sick humor, but it does illustrate the temper of the user community.
So, contrary to the tenor of your article, I believe that Microsoft is not and will not be very interested in future evolutionary developments in OS/2 Version 2 technology. I even believe that OS/2 Version 2, along with Version 1 as I previously stated, is a good candidate for becoming an abandoned operating system. If it doesn’t become abandoned or supplanted by Version 3, there’s a good chance that it will become IBM proprietary over time.
