I was recently watching a couple of videos on YouTube, about these operating systems. I remember back in the 90's I was kinda interested in BeOS. But I wonder if anyone has actually ever used them on PC's? And were they any good, when compared to Windows? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BeOS
I've used them back in time on my AMD K6-2 system and i was lucky to have S3 Triov64+ video card, that was supported by BeOS. I still have OS/2 "Warp" original installation CD somewhere. But oh boy, that BeOS was fast, really fast. Amazing multitasking capabilities and its own BFS filesystem rocked. But in the end lack of quality softwares and driver support ruined it. Which was sad, because i've never used such innovative and fast OS. Haiku is "spiritual successor" of BeOS. I triple booted win 10, manjaro and haiku about a year ago. Haiku boots like within a second and like BeOS it's...FAST. However its still in early stage of development.
I use OS/2 for a long time. I started around 1988 or so. back then it was more like DOS in appearance. A GUI interface came out soon after. I used OS/2 as my main operating system for several years, through 2.0, Warp 3 & 4. After OS/2 died with IBM, I shifted to eComStation. The last version I have for eComStation is version 1.1. I have not used it it in years. It's in my opinion, much better than Windows at the time. I would argue probably still is. I miss OS/2. I have been toying with the idea of using it again. I really like it. If I do I will probably go with ArcaOS (https://www.arcanoae.com/arcaos/). The only thing stopping me is forking out cash, for what will most likely be a hobby OS, that a yearly maintenance fee is needed to stay up to date. Edit: Forgot to mention I also play a bit with BeOS (Haiku) before. I'll stick to Slackware.
OK so I guess you're not into history, move on. OK cool, didn't know that Haiku is based on BeOS and yes, I read about BeOS being real fast and more advanced than Windows. And Apple almost decided to buy the BeOS, since it was better than macOS, but they offered $125 million, which was too low for Be Inc, what a missed opportunity! OK cool, and I read that OS/2 was supposed to compete with Windows, what if it had actually won the battle? But IBM simply wasn't as clever as MS. I vaguely remember that OS2/Warp was being advertised on Dutch TV in the 90's.
I never looked at OS/2 as a competitor to Windows. I was using IBM/DOS at the time, gave windows a look didn't like it at all. I noticed a copy of OS/2 on the shelf of the computer store one day, asked about it, bought it, installed it, loved it. It stayed as my main operating system for many years. I certainly wish OS/2 have taken off and won the battle. The way I see it, the battle was rigged in favor of Bill Gates. IBM was more interested in corporate level than the PC level. So Gates took advantage of that fact and ran with it. Those initial droppings of Windows up until perhaps Windows 3.11 were exactly that, droppings. I never understood the "awesomeness" of Windows back then, still don't today. Today they have pretty much "sowed up" the market.
I really liked OS/2 and for a while used it for Windows application development. It's been so long I don't remember what all I had liked about it, but I seem to recall it was purported to be more secure than Windows (process wise), was better at multitasking, and could run Windows or DOS applications. I was hoping it would take off, but of course MS was too dominant by that time (especially in the corporate world) so software always lagged or was non-existent. Lack of software then killed it and it quickly faded away... But, I still have the install disks! Unfortunately I seem to have "misplaced" (likely thrown away) the install key (presuming there was one). I recall when BeOS was first being advertised, and it was something I had wanted to try out ... but then it seemed to fade away (or perhaps I had moved on to other things). What I really miss, though, for whatever reason, is working with Unix and XWindows (I think? it's been too long) on a Sun Workstation. Simpler times...
You should watch this 8 minute video, it explains why OS/2 failed to win the battle. What I don't understand however is how OS/2 could run DOS and Windows apps, besides apps developed specifically for OS/2 itself. Did it use some type of emulation? LGR Tech Tales - IBM OS/2's Fight Against Windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQdK9owqVd0
OK cool, so you actually worked with it. Basically, when Win95 launched it was game over for OS/2, and IBM was very frustrated by this. I'm sure that OS/2 was pretty good, but it did lack a taskbar, I believe this was a brilliant feature in Windows, together with the traybar.
At that time, BeOS was technically superior to both Windows and macOS, so that's why they probably thought that €125 million was not enough. But you have many of these blunders, for example Yahoo declined to buy Google back in 1998 for $1 million and in 2002 they had another chance for $5 billion LOL.
Thanks for the video link, enjoyed that, a bit of a trip down memory lane. OS/2 Warp came in two flavors, red box, blue box. The red box used you current installation of Windows, the blue box came with Win-OS2. It basic layout is comparable to Wine's layout. It wasn't really that good running Windows programs, simple ones like Notepad ran okay, sort of like Wine the last time I tried it (ages ago). I stayed exclusively with native OS/2 programs. I really hated to see OS/2 go. As I mentioned above I used OS/2 then eComStation up to version 1.1. This thread has me toying with the idea of give it another whorl. I really do miss OS/2. Yet... until I win the lotto, I will stick with Slackware. Can't see paying for a hobby OS/2 when this aging computer may kick the bucket and I will have to fork out cash for a new one. Watching this video now. https://youtu.be/9vXKvku6y5A?si=TAie5kvxMz_G3M_G
I still have my copy of OS/2 Warp on 3.5" diskettes. I used OS/2 before and after WARP for years at work & at home - loved it. The last IBM laptop I used OS/2 on, had a diskette reader which is possibly the last laptop to have one. The 3.5" diskette (not so floppy) was in the family of IBM floppy disks which now has more unique uses: drink coasters, spatulas and/or ice scrapers.
OK I see, so it was sort of like a compatibility mode, that allowed it to run Windows apps. Also make sure to check this video out, I don't think I ever saw this show on Dutch TV, did you know about The Computer Chronicles? Apparently it ran from 1983 to 2002 on US TV. But you could clearly see that IBM still thought they had a shot to win the battle with MS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmxabyk0S2M https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Chronicles Wow, it's crazy to think that back then full size OSes still fitted on floppy disks. Forgot about that.
Yes, the program it self brings back memories. I'm not so sure that IBM was really serious about wining the home user market. Though in the beginning Windows was so bad, I thought it had a chance, unfortunately with Windows 3.1 and 3.11 WFWG turned out to be pretty good. I don't recall watching that one before (Computer Chronicles), I didn't think it did a very good job of highlighting OS/2, the sound effects, first thing I did was turn most of them off, the guy demoing ClolorWorks really didn't show you anything. The last guy was pretty much on track with his review though. I really enjoyed using OS/2 and was sad to see it's demise. I mentioned above, OS/2 wasn't that great at Windows, but one of the videos I watched reminded me it wasn't that all that bad. Like I said, I stuck to native OS2 programs.
I never used Windows 3.1, it was before my time. About OS/2, what's worth mentioning is that the first versions were co-developed by IBM and Microsoft.
Yes they were, one reason that Windows was part of the package. Once Windows 95 came out windows 95 programs were hit and running under OS/2. If you had the blue box version of OS/2 Windows 95 was not a good fit, like the older versions of Windows I started using OS/2 when it more like DOS.
