Slashdot Log In
Keeping the OS/2 Flame Alive
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:48 AM
from the burn-baby-burn dept.
from the burn-baby-burn dept.
nanday writes "Ever wondered what happened to OS/2? With IBM officially abandoning the operating system last year, users are relying on a third party version of OS/2 -- and, increasingly, using free and open source software to keep
it alive." From the article: "According to Haverblad, the main reason that users stay with OS/2 is for 'features that Windows and Linux don't have yet.' He singles out the REstructured eXtended eXecutor (REXX), an interpreted programming language known for its ease of use, a 'rock solid kernel,' 'excellent multitasking,' and low system requirements. Haverblad also claims a lack of viruses and spyware and, referencing a report on OS/2 Warp Server by Secunia, fewer security vulnerabilities." Newsforge is also an OSTG site.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Keeping the OS/2 Flame Alive
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 316 comments
(Spill at 50!) | Index Only
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
REXX was also available for Amiga...and others... (Score:5, Informative)
REXX was also available for Amiga...and others...
See: http://rexxla.org/Links/ [rexxla.org]
Re:REXX was also available for Amiga...and others. (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Tuesday April 12 2005, @11:12PM)
Another thing i liked a lot about OS/2 is the WPS, that maybe by now there are better desktops, but back then was wonderful, still waiting some of their features in modern desktops like KDE.
Re:REXX was also available for Amiga...and others. (Score:4, Informative)
(http://www.ranea.org/watts)
Also, even non-OSA languages can use the "osascript" utility to execute an OSA script. I find AppleScript profoundly annoying, but it's not that difficult to write, say, a Ruby or an Expect script which does all of the heavy lifting in its native tongue and passes just what it has to via AppleScript.
The problem is... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The problem is... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The problem is... (Score:5, Informative)
I still have a copy of Warp in the closet of old-school stuff. eBay baby.
OS/2 (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.chasepaymentech.com/)
Let it go man! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://religiousfreaks.com/)
I suppose there are people using the abacus too.
http://religiousfreaks.com/ [religiousfreaks.com]Security Problems... (Score:5, Insightful)
Plus a complete OS that is secure?
If OS/2 was released OpenSource tomorrow and got popular you'd have it with the MOST security venerabilities by years end I guarantee it.
The ONLY reason OS/2
Re:Security Problems... (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday December 19 2006, @05:12PM)
Now, those Diebold machines that run Windows, on the other hand...I've seen screenshots of those things after a bluescreen, with the browser up, and the media player going. I'd bet there was a way to get them to spit out their complete internal cash supply. That's a good 250k, if it's full. Can you insert a buffer overflow on the back of an ATM card?
Re:Security Problems... (Score:4, Informative)
(http://blog.darwincentral.org/)
No way. I used to work for a bank, and the busiest machines carried $30k when full, and most of our machines carried less. The machines just aren't set up to hold 12,500 bills (about 25 pounds worth of currency), which is $250k in $20 bills. Plus, that amount of cash would be way too tempting for the sorts of idiots who might consider hooking up a tow truck or backhoe and just driving off with the thing.
viruses (Score:5, Informative)
um, having a lack of USERS tends to do that.
OS/2 Petition (Score:5, Informative)
(http://kadin.sdf-us.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 16, @01:46PM)
There are apparently some legal issues -- the most frequently cited one is that IBM might not hold copyright to all the code, since the project was originally done in collaboration with Microsoft and Corel -- but the request is that IBM open up all of the code that it has available and can legally release, and note what parts it can't, so that they could be re-implemented.
I'm not sure it's ever going to happen, but it sure would be nice if it did.
Rock Solid Multitasking? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Rock Solid Multitasking? (Score:5, Informative)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday November 07, @10:21PM)
It was fixed in 1996 with the release of version 4. Microsoft owns the copyright on PM, not IBM.
Enjoy,
REXX (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://danbirchall.multiply.com/)
It was pretty handy for scripting, useful as "glue" between different things and all that.
By 1989 standards, mind you.
I think modern things (like AppleScript/Automator) can probably do everything REXX could ever do, and more, while being more readable to us humans.
Obligatory Bill Gates Quote (Score:5, Informative)
(http://web-owls.com/)
-- Bill Gates, from "OS/2 Programmer's Guide" (forward by Bill Gates)
REXX is NOT unique to OS2 (Score:3, Insightful)
We have apps running in Object REXX on Windows.
Look in the corner of that bank's machine room (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.conversal.co.uk/)
OS/2 died on August 17, 1995 (Score:5, Informative)
In an alternate timeline... (Score:3, Funny)
(http://www.daduh.org/ | Last Journal: Friday July 20, @11:20AM)
A terse reply (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Friday March 31 2006, @10:51PM)
No.
Claiming lack of virii due to quality of OS (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, honestly, no OS/2 virii? Is there any reason to target the 10 people out there still running OS/2 Warp with a virus?
While I will agree that good OS design will prevent the kind of zombie take over of a machine that allow viruses to propogate and activate without user intervention, I don't believe for a second that ANY OS is virus proof.
Virii are weapons of mass desctruction, that is, they want to have the greatest number of targets. An OS/2 virus, even if it had a 100% infection rate, would not make the news rounds, and might get a quick blurb on Slashdot. Virus writers are not going to waste time exploiting OS/2.
We have seen a virus launched against OSX recently, probably due to the higher profile Apple has been getting recently with their new Macintel machines. Before this, people assumed OSX was virus proof, but its just that it wouldn't make an impact to write an OSX virus unless the writer can claim some fame by having it affect the greatest number of people and be talked about in the news.
Also, when it comes to OS/2 having lower system requirements, it WAS written for computers designed about 15 years ago. I doubt OS/2 Warp server would be able to run or peform well with the typical client load that most servers today have to contend with. Email spam filtering alone can bring a modern server to its knees, I doubt OS/2 Warp Server would be able to function properly with 256mb of RAM, 10 gb hard drive space running on a Pentium class CPU even handling the email load a typical small business puts on today's servers.
Anyways, I don't believe that OS/2 has any better ability to fight off virii then any other OS, just that its been forgotten about except by those too cheap to upgrade to a new computer and OS.
Keeping the OS/2 Flame Alive (Score:5, Funny)
How's that for keeping a flame alive?
Joking... just joking...
ATM machines & OS/2 (Score:5, Informative)
Rexx programmer! (Score:3, Insightful)
OS/2 is still alive and well... (Score:3, Informative)
(I know, the article is about IBM OS/2, not Microsoft's. Microsoft and IBM parted ways after version 1.3, with IBM working on version 2, while Microsoft focused on building a more ambitious version 3, which eventually became Windows NT version 3. The rest is history. But yes, Windows NT in its embryonic stages was originally supposed to be Microsoft OS/2 version 3. Windows NT could still use HPFS file systems and run OS/2 binaries until, I believe, Windows 2000. Not that there were a lot of killer apps out that used the OS/2 v1.x API, but you could actually still run them on NT 3 and NT 4)..
Open Source OS/2 clone (Score:3, Informative)
(https://openqabal.dev.java.net/ | Last Journal: Saturday October 14 2006, @01:51AM)
Argh OS/2 Story... Must... Post... (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.flying-rhenquest.net/)
I ended up working for IBM doing OS/2 technical support after a couple of years. IBM really did have a highly rated support line despite the fact that out of all the people training with me, I was the only one who'd ever used the system. After about a year on the phones, they promoted me to electronic forum support, where I answered questions from users posting on CompuServe. Remember CompuServe? We had quite a presence there. I specialized in REXX and networking, although I would frequently hit the other forums as well.
I was also an advocate for the OS because it really did suck less than Windows. In fact, it sucked less than Windows right up until the Windows XP/ME timeframe. In many ways, the OS/2 interface is still superior to Windows. I attended a couple of COMDEXes with Team OS/2 and attended several local Team OS/2 events at ham fests and things like that.
At its peak, OS/2 had an estimated install base of 10,000,000 users despite the PCCO's refusal to pre-install the OS on systems for customers. We're all familiar with why they didn't -- Microsoft would revoke the volume discounts for any manufacturer preinstalling a competing OS on systems being sold. That was one of the nails in the OS/2 coffin. Others included the attitude in IBM that PCs weren't real machines and if you wanted a real OS you should be running AIX, the refusal of engineering to fix several really annoying little bugs, and several other factors as well. The two most annoying bugs were the tendency for the Workplace Shell to become corrupt (Binary registry files and all that...) and the single system input queue which would allow one application to hang the entire shell. Half-assed hacks were made to work around both problems, but they were half-assed and sucked.
Around 95, I saw the writing on the wall for OS/2 and downloaded a copy of slakware 1.0 off the Internet. I've been using Linux ever since then.
As for its advantages, REXX was an advantage over the DOS batch file language, but honestly what isn't? Perl, ruby and python all provide similar features and you're far more likely to find someone who knows how to write in one of those than in REXX. REXX was also quite limited, possibly even intentionally crippled, in what it was capable of doing. Interacting with the WPS and GUI components was always a pain in the ass, if not completely impossible. Network communications was impossible with the version of it that I used.
The OS/2 kernel WAS rock solid outside its third party drivers, and as far as I know no one ever managed to write a virus for it. The WPS was always the biggest draw but IMHO IBM ruined it after OS/2 2.0 or 2.1. It was hideous in Warp 3 and later. Gnome kind of looks like the WPS -- very similar object desktop concepts, and the WPS used an early version an object system similar to CORBA to provide access to desktop objects. I never really liked icons on my desktop to begin with, so I don't really miss it all that much.
Inside IBM most of the OS/2 people I knew switched to Linux after IBM killed the system. There might still be a few hold-outs lurking in the bowels of the company, but most of the stuff you need for t
Object Rexx has been opened sourced (Score:3, Informative)
IBM support was SOOO uneven (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://slashdot.org/ | Last Journal: Monday October 29, @07:20AM)
We could never understand why IBM could NEVER fix the single threaded IO queue no matter how many times we complained about it.
We could never understand why they never made an effort to improve or at least fix the fixpack process which could often as not leave you with a non operating system.
We could never understand why the desktop utilities were so incomplete that freeware or sharware like FM/2 were necessary.
We could never understand why we could get a bunch of APPC/APPM com tech support engineers on the phone but NO ONE inside the company was allowed to acknowledge the existence of Ethernet.
I liked OS/2 (Score:4, Funny)
(http://portal2portal.com/ | Last Journal: Monday June 04, @08:46PM)
What OS/2 and AmigaOS taught me (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.biglumber.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 18, @12:25PM)
Been there, done that. Never again. I now use software that I am 100% certain will last forever. Linux may not be as fast as Amiga OS and KDE may not be as "nifty" as WPS (although it's actually getting pretty decent), but at least I don't have to worry about the future. Even the Microsofties aren't this safe.
LOW system requirements??? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:A worthy attempt but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:NT kernel (Score:5, Interesting)
BTW, what's "unsolid" about the NT kernel itself?