An editorial view from Mark Dodel, editor of the VOICE Newsletter editor@os2voice.org
Well I had hoped to be upbeat this month, what with Communicator for OS/2 going
GA and a host of updates to other OS/2 applications and best of all Warpstock is
coming this month. Why does IBM have to spoil things as usual? An internal IBM document
outlining IBM's strategy toward OS/2 briefly appeared on Loren Bandiera's OS/2 News
and Rumours site - http://www.os2ss.com/news/.
This NCSD web page document shows that IBM has basically given up completely on
OS/2, even as a corporate platform and plans to only spend a minimum of what they
can get away with so that their "target customer's don't feel abandoned"
while it convinces them to move to other platforms. Which in fact is what IBM planned
to do. They have now stepped back a bit from this and sent Loren a sanitized version
of their OS/2 non-strategy. We small time users of OS/2 are not their target customers
so they honestly don't give a damn how we feel, thus IBM has no sponsorship stake
in Warpstock at all. Are the folks that run IBM complete morons or what? Microsoft
can't buy the grassroots support and loyalty IBM has for OS/2, but they continue
to squander it.
Well screw IBM. I'm not ready to be migrated to their vision of the moment. Are
you? So let's talk about our OS/2 strategy. VOICE continues to support the OS/2
SOHO user with information and a forum of communication with other OS/2 users via
IRC and mail lists. Please consider adding your support by joining VOICE if you
have not already done so. Every member counts toward helping us prod IBM into doing
the right thing since IBM is so hung up on numbers. To start with this month, we
have 7 pages of news solely concerning OS/2. Pretty good for an operating system
that IBM wants to phase out. A special thanks to our News Editor, Don Eitner for
all the hard work he puts into every issue.
This month's feature section includes a guest editorial by Martin Alfredsson, author of the WarpX site and developer of the Web Navigator web browser for OS/2 http://www.jmast.se as well as the Boot Set utility for OS/2. Read about his latest crusade to convince IBM that they should bring forth a new OS/2 client version - The campaign is called 21Warp and it involves pre-ordering Warp 5 to show IBM that they are dead wrong in believing there is no interest in a new OS/2 client. At best we get a new, refreshed version of the operating system we love with maybe some of the whiz-bang features of Warp Server 5, at worse we make IBM look like the numb-nuts they are. If you have any interest at all in seeing a Warp 5 client, then please read this article and go to Martin's site http://www.jmast.se/warpx/ and fill out a pre-order (honestly of course).
Continuing with our strategy for OS/2, we have a blow-by-blow report on the events
that occurred at The OS/2 Love Fest known as Warpstock
by VOICE members who attended. There is also a review of M.A.M.E.
for OS/2 by Thom Davis; A review of SpellGuard
v1.2.2 by myself; Tom Nadeau's article on "Marketing
OS/2.... the Back-Door Way"; and Don Eitner writes about Better
Communication, in his VIEW from the End(User) column. Finally another editorial
piece on Thoughts on the First Spam Freedom Day
by Mick Brown, the moderator of the USENET comp.os.os2.announce
news group. We also have two new interviews with OS/2 users this month, who also
are not in the mood to be shoved onto another computing platform.
Of course I continue to end my ranting by encouraging everyone to write to express
your opinion on IBM's strange lack of any commitment to their own computer operating
system in favor of their competitor's sorry products. If you want to VOICE your
opinion write to:
Joel I. Klein
Assistant Attorney General
Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice
601 D Street, NW
Washington, DC 20530
The email address is antitrust@justice.usdoj.gov
If you would like to personally let IBM know that you want them to support OS/2
and ask them to release a new version of OS/2 send an email to:
John Stenson ssadm281@us.ibm.com
Network Computing Software
Finally if you want to let Lou Gerstner's office know how you feel you can do
so by pointing your favorite web browser to http://www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/email-lvg.pl
You'll probably then get a response from someone in John's office anyway, so I'm
not sure what difference it makes.
Mark Dodel
Editor, VOICE Newsletter
editor@os2voice.org