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September '97 Reader Survey Results
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IBM is the company we all love to hate. On the one hand, they have provided us with what is probably the best operating system in the world. On the other, many feel they have hobbled that operating system with inept marketing and strategic blunders. Some feel so strongly that IBM has harmed OS/2's chances to succeed on its own merits that they loudly argue it's time to cut the strings and sell or give OS/2 to some third party.

To find out what you think, last month we asked, "What should IBM do with OS/2?"

Answers to our survey were accepted from September 16th until October 13th. We had a total of 2,464 replies to our questionnaire with 112 "spoiled" entries (replies were considered "spoiled" if they did not contain an e-mail address, if they were incomplete or if they were duplicates). This left 2,352 valid replies. The results were as follows:

Has IBM done a good job developing OS/2?

IBM's programming gurus can be proud of their accomplishments -- at least our readers think so. Nearly one in every two people surveyed last month (48.3%) said that IBM's PSP had done a "good" job developing OS/2. More importantly, another 36.9% felt that PSP had done an "excellent" job. Obviously OS/2 users are happy with the technology that runs their computers.

What about the 14.9% of people who don't think IBM is the cat's meow when it comes to programming? Even in this group the majority (11.3% of the total surveyed) felt IBM's efforts were acceptable. Only 57 people (2.5%) thought IBM had done a "poor" or "horrible" job.

Has IBM done a good job marketing OS/2?

IBM's report card is not nearly so rosy when it comes to marketing their brilliant product though. A glance at the tables below will quickly show you that the answers were nearly reversed between our first and second questions last month.

Almost as many people who thought IBM did a "good" job developing OS/2 thought that they did a "poor" job marketing it (47.3% of our readers). Worse, almost that many again (45.2%) thought they did a "horrible" job marketing our OS of choice. Obviously our readers don't feel that IBM's management and programming staffs are on the same level.

What should IBM do with OS/2?

Finally last month, we asked the question everyone really wanted to answer. And answer you did!

Perhaps surprisingly, most of our readers feel IBM is still the proper steward for OS/2. Almost half (49.5%) said that IBM should, "Keep OS/2; focus more on end users." The next largest group was comprised of people who also feel that IBM should retain ownership of OS/2. However, these people (nearly 1/4 of our readers, or 23.0%) feel that IBM should create a subsidiary solely to develop and market OS/2. That's overwhelming support -- 72.5% -- for IBM to retain ownership of OS/2!

But there were dissenters, of course. Approximately 15.9% of our readers thought IBM should either sell or give away OS/2, and 9 readers (0.4%) even told us that IBM should, "Officially stop producing OS/2!" Maybe that would finally stop those "OS/2 is dead" rumours. <g>

* * *

In addition to asking our readers what they thought, our staff members also "had it out" on this topic this month. Don't forget to check out the complete debate featured in this issue.

Also, don't forget to fill out this month's questionnaire and check back in November for complete results!

 

Complete September '97 Survey Results

Has IBM done a good job developing OS/2?

CategoryCountPercentage
They have done an excellent job86836.9%
They have done a good job1,13748.3%
They have done an acceptable job26511.3%
They have done a poor job512.2%
They write code like janitors (horrible)60.3%
I'm not qualified to say251.1%
TOTAL2,352100.1%
Note: the extra 0.1% in the above table is due to rounding errors.

Has IBM done a good job marketing OS/2?

CategoryCountPercentage
They have done an excellent job30.1%
They have done a good job190.8%
They have done an acceptable job1456.2%
They have done a poor job1,11347.3%
My dog could have done better (horrible)1,06445.2%
I don't have any opinion80.3%
TOTAL2,35299.9%
Note: the missing 0.1% in the above table is due to rounding errors.

What should IBM do with OS/2?

CategoryCountPercentage
Stay the course, things are fine813.4%
Keep OS/2; focus more on end users1,16549.5%
Create IBM subsidiary solely for OS/254123.0%
Sell or give OS/2 to a non-IBM company1928.2%
Donate OS/2 source code to public domain1817.7%
Officially stop producing OS/290.4%
Other (please use our feedback form)1094.6%
I don't know, I just don't know!743.1%
TOTAL2,35299.9%
Note: the missing 0.1% in the above table is due to rounding errors.


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