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I counted 51 sessions, not including the Keynote, Warped Jeopardy or the raffles.
I could only attend a handful. Ones I really wanted to attend but couldn't included
the Scietech Display Doctor session, Mike Percell's session on Warp Server for ebusiness,
and David Moskowitz's "OS/2 Then, Now and ???". I also wanted to go to
at least some of the OS/2 programming classes, but couldn't. I also didn't get much
time to spend looking around the exhibitor booths. I did spend a lot of time in
the VOICE booth, on IRC and also meeting people who stopped by to check out VOICE.
Warpstock 99 was very successful membership-wise for VOICE. Thanks to all that joined
and those that took the opportunity to renew their membership.
The Keynote address by PCWeek columnist Peter Coffee went over really well, with
a decidedly anti-microsoft flavour to it. As a whole we love OS/2, but we also dislike
microsoft. Peter's equating an un-named pc operating system to a Pinto and then
detailing where OS/2 strengths were was interesting, though I think he belaboured
the issues of the windows2000 rollout a bit. He stressed support for standards which
will allow us all to continue to use the best resources for our computing tasks,
rather then what proprietary kludge is popular. He then spoke about security and
future trends in information technology.
All the main room sessions were recorded using Real Video extractor and are available
for viewing at http://www.cspcorp.com/Forums/OS2Central/OS2CFOR/Warpstock__99/warpstock__99.html.
I don't really run any windoze applications except TaxCut and ExcelTax at tax time,
so installing RealPlayer for Windows 3.1 was an adventure. I initially could only
get it running in Fullscreen win-OS/2, but after considerable tinkering got it running
in Seamless win-OS/2, but could never get it running as a helper app. instead I
copied the URL's from the Compuserve video archive into the seamless session. As
those who watched the live broadcast are painfully aware, the audio is not all that
great, unless the speaker had the microphone perfectly positioned and didn't walk
around at all. It does work however (except for a few videos which keep giving me
and allows me to view a lot of what I missed, even though I was there. You can get
some help on installing RealPlayer under OS/2 at
I missed out on Abel McClendon's session on "VOICE offers Opportunity",
and also Lynn Maxson's discussion on WarpDoctor, since someone had to man the VOICE
booth. Abel's presentation can be found at http://www.os2voice.org/warpstock99/vcews99/vcews_0.htm.
For more on WarpDoctor please see the web page at http://www.warpdoctor.org/.
There is quite a flurry of activity on WarpDoctor, with almost daily IRC meetings
in #voice on WEBBnet. We are still in the specification phase. User input is needed
so now is the time for OS/2 users to join in and tell us what support you need to
continue using OS/2. Check out the web page and join the mailing list. WarpDoctor
is the first phase of the Warpicity proposal. Warpicicty is the project to take
control of our own computing experience. No more worry about what IBM or microsoft
will be doing to us. The active OS/2 community will control the direction. As I
said before, now is the time to get involved, and the best way to do this is to
join VOICE now to show your support for this project. For new members, check out
http://www.os2voice.org/membership.html
.
I did manage to get to part of the Roundtable Discussion with Peter Coffee of
PC Week http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/columns/0,4351,2377721,00.html,
David Moskowitz (of OS/2 Warp Unleashed fame), Bob St. John (of Serenity
Systems http://www.serenity-systems.com/),
Pete Greulich (of IBM Austin) and Oliver Mark (of IBM Germany). Some snippets that
I can recall from this discussion included Peter Gruelich talking about centralization
of service, Oliver Mark commenting that OS/2 server still has 50% of the European
Banking/Finance market, and Bob St. John stating that Serenity systems was negotiating
with IBM for an OEM Warp Client, as well as Mensys(which took pre-orders for a Warp
5 client some time ago). The last item of note was a discussion on Software Choice,
which will become by subscription only in January, 2000. Mr. Greulich stated that
this was done to generate revenue for the OS/2 group. That the pricing was primaily
focused on Warp Server users, and that if people felt it was a problem, IBM might
re-consider the pricing structure.
I also made it to the final session of the first day, Questions and Answers with
the Netscape Team. These guys are IBMers, not Netscape employees. Mike Kaply and
Jeff Kobal display a great enthusiasm for their job and their product. They answered
questions as honestly as posible and were entertaining to boot. They started the
show with an old video from the release of OS/2 2.1. Some of their tips included:
Sunday, the last day of Warpstock99, brought more great sessions. First up was
Kim Cheung of Serenity Systems (http://www.serenity-systems.com/)
with his session on the OS/2 Super Client. Basically it would be an Aurora based
remote IPL client. Unfortunately due to hardware problems he wasn't able to demonstrate
this. Hopefully Kim can get the OK to OEM OS/2 from IBM, and provide this as a viable
solution for small scale networks.
Next up on Sunday morning was Simplicity for Java, by Data Representations http://www.datarepresentations.com/.
I'm not particularly fond of Java, but this is really a neat product. It is written
entirely in Java itself, so it is truely cross-platform(except for running on microsoft's
non-compliant JRE, but runs on all Sun and IBM JDKs). You can build an entire Java
application UI using Drag'n Drop. It also includes a module called the "Code
Sourcerer" which will builds function code using selection screens. Version
1.2 should be out soon and will include a "Canvas Composer", Class Path
Editor, a debugger and IDE enhancements. In addition Simplicity Professional will
be released in November which is geared to Server Side Java coding. It will include
a Servelet Composer, built-in development web server, Internationalization (support
for 41 languages), cross-platform testing and database tools.
After the Simplicity demonstration I wondered into Chris Wright's 'Making "Help
desk" ' session. Chris writes/draws the UberSoft comic strip seen in OS/2 e-Zine
(http://www.os2ezine.com) and on his own web
site http://www.ubersoft.net. He went into
detail on how he uses OS/2 to construct his strip using Photo>Graphics Pro, Embellish
and PMView to do the graphics and Home Page Publisher for the HTML.
Warped Jeopardy was a great diversion. Rice-A-Roni flying everywhere as a panel
of guest challengers and the audience were tested in their knowledge of all things
OS/2. The commercial breaks were a blast from the past with films of OS/2 promotions
past. Somehow in a bizarre twist, all three contestants ended up in a tie. My favorite
category was the "Sayings of Chairman Bill" which for some reason all
had the same response - "What is OS/2?". Just ask Judy McDermott, it was
her favorite category also.
Finally it was getting close the time for me to catch a plane back home. I only
managed to make it to the first few minutes of Lynn Maxson's presentation on Warpicity.
Unless IBM wakes up and realizes they need to update the user functionality in OS/2
to compete with other lesser, but more bloated operating systems, Warpicity provides
a fantastic solution. Lynn is hard at work building his SL/I compiler to make Warpicity
a reality and provide the device driver and updated operating system functionality
that we sorely need. For more on Warpicity go to the OS/2 Central Forum on Compuserve
http://go.compuserve.com/OS2Central,
click on messages, and then select Forum 20 Warpicity Project. Here Lynn outlines
everything he is doing on this wonderful project.
I enjoyed my first Warpstock and I look forward to Warpstock 2000. Maybe they
can add a third day and repeat the sessions so attendees don't have to make so many
tough choices. All in all a great show. A hardy thanks to Warpstock Inc and the
Warpstock 99 Event Team. For more on Warpstock 99 in Dan Casey's
Warpstock 99 ... A View from the Top., Abel McClendon's: Warpstock
99, from my perspective and Wayne Swanson's somewhat bleary eyed view of
Atlanta in Wayne's World hits Atlanta.
Coming up in November/December, we have a General VOICE meeting on November 15th
at 8PM EST(01:00GMT) on IRC in WEBBnet. Please attend if you can. VOICE needs your
input and involvement. Also on Monday, December 6th, 8PM EST(01:00GMT) we have another
General VOICE meeting and another on Monday, December 20th, 8PM EST(01:00GMT) .
As always, please be sure to check out the updated VOICE Future
events Calendar in this newsletter or on the VOICE website at <http://www.os2voice.org/calendar.html>
for more details on future VOICE events.
Looking for a great computer-related gift for Christmas for an OS/2 user? Check
out Isaac Leung's review of ACECAT III Pen Tablet from
ACECAD, Inc.. This is a product that not only has longstanding OS/2 support,
but it works well. You can read more on this product in the November, 1999 OS/2
e-Zine - http://www.os2ezine.com where they
have a review as well. I'd like to take this opportunity to say welcome back OS/2
e-Zine, we missed you.
John Twelker is back with more on USB AND OS/2.
Unless you have a motherboard with an Intel chipset, be sure to read this article
if you have any intention to run an USB device under OS/2 . Next up we have Tom
Nadeau with an article titled "Doh! IBM's Sibling
Rivalry Does It Again". Then Tom opines on the recent Finding of Fact
by Judge Jackson in the microsoft-USDOJ case in For a Change,
a Dose of Reality.
Finally Don Eitner returns with a new End(User) column. This month he follows
up to my rant last month on IBM's latest OS/2 anti-marketing nonsense in Okay,
You've Got My Dollar, Where's The Magic Trick?.
Just a reminder that we now have a full Newsletter
Master Index page. All the feature sections of the current and previous issues
can now be found on this one page. Additionally, we have added a Java based search
function to this master index page. It will allow you to search all past issues
for a specific word or phrase. So try it out and let us know what you think. If
you have any ideas for improvements let me know at editor@os2voice.org.
We are always interested in your thoughts and views on subjects related to OS/2,
and would like to see opinion/editorial pieces as well as hardware/software reviews.
To that end, and because of several recent requests, we have added a Guidelines
for Article Submissions to the VOICE Newsletter
Mark Dodel
Editor, VOICE Newsletter
editor@os2voice.org
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,
however I believe a written communication has more effect then electronic.