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Warp for Windows- by Pierre R. LaFlamme
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Presented below is a bold and interesting initiative for the GROWTH of the OS/2 Warp installed user base.

Overview

Is it a Microsoft Windows world? Should it be? This paper presents a marketing opportunity concept that explores recent technology trends and the computing consumer. It identifies available technologies and existing talent and focuses these resources on a grand collaboration for the growth of the OS/2 Warp installed user base. It offers a basis for doing 'good business' in the promotion of OS/2 Warp. Ultimately this paper hopes to unite and ignite a new Warp Wave of enthusiasm based on optimism and future business opportunities.

Warp at Idle

It is expected that the typical reader of this paper is an OS/2 user. If you are, then the current state of Warp is known to you. If you aren't an OS/2 user, then the state of Warp is this section's caption, WARP AT IDLE. There has been much said and written about the lack of marketing success of IBM's OS/2 Warp. Many an OS/2 user will no doubt fault IBM. Others will point to questionable business tactics by Microsoft. Regardless of where you come down on this debate, the reality of the situation is plain. Windows is dominant. OS/2 isn't.

A Window of Opportunity

In the world of business, being number 2, 3, or 4 is not necessarily bad. The important thing is to "be" and surely nobody disputes the existence of OS/2. Microsoft, though dominant, surely fears IBM's OS/2 simply because it exists.

So if a Windows user were to ask me, "Is it a Microsoft Windows world?" I'd answer yes. I'd also follow up by asking, "why one operating system? I have several." At this point, I think you see the "hook" that will drive future opportunity. Call it "computer envy", "consumer choice", "let me decide", or whatever, people love technology that gives them choices and therein lies an opportunity.

So if you believe that offering choices forms the basis of doing 'good business', how can one use this to grow the installed customer base for Warp? After all, surely IBM with its billions of dollars must be aware of such things?

Maybe it's done by building a new burger joint next to the existing one.

The Burger War!

I'm not going to tell you I have any clue as to how things are done at IBM. Matter of fact, I'm actually assuming they are concentrating on other things like providing more and better Windows NT programs than Microsoft itself. This is not a bad business strategy but it doesn't have to be the only game in town. Here is the idea plain and simple:

Produce a OS/2 Warp Windows Sampler CD that installs from Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT machines. The CD will deliver (automated installation) a fully functional OS/2 Warp 4 operating system on a logical HPFS partition. The fully functional OS/2 Warp will run for 120 days. Of course, the CD also installs a boot manager, the delivery mechanism for CHOICE between the users current OS and Warp.

How?

There are several key technologies that allow for the above idea. They are 1.), lower CD production costs, 2.) tremendous increases in average user hard disk storage space and, 3.) drive image software delivery systems.

Now if you are unfamiliar with drive image software, I'll briefly explain. A drive image is a sector by sector copy of a hard disk. This image is stored in file format. Because it is a file it is also portable and can be put on a disk or CD. The technologies offered by PowerQuest and GhostSoft are examples and they are WONDERFUL! No longer is a computer user simply stuck with the one operating system that came on his computer. With little or no effort, drive image products allow for the addition of entire systems. Users who previously feared hard disk partitioning and all the jargon that goes with it are now experiencing operating system freedom. The freedom to drive any and all operating systems around the block.

In the idea presented above, the drive image software for the CD is tailored to the specific delivery of OS/2 Warp on a logical drive. It examines the users current hard disk, looks for extra or unused hard disk space and then formats, extracts and installs the OS/2 Warp image without (or with limited) user intervention. Because it installs itself as a HPFS file system (one Microsoft does not support, THANK YOU!), it will not alter the existing drive letter mapping of the user's current Windows configuration.

The version of Warp 4 installed by this method is a plain VGA version designed to get Warp up and running. One thing it does install is an easily configurable Internet dialer (InJoy maybe) and Netscape. As you can imagine, the user will quickly want to add sound, improve resolution, get drivers etc. All this and a great deal of "HELLO" and "WELCOME" can be offered the POTENTIAL new user through a well managed internet site (funded with advertising of OS/2 products)!

So at this point the Windows user has a boot manager, a running copy of Warp 4 and access to a great and well organized "Welcome to Warp" internet page. What else needs to happen?

Lots!

In a kinder and gentler way, we need to highlight the fine features of OS/2. Remember the trouble you had and the mysterious way OS/2 worked when you were first learning it? Icons versus objects? I see the need for more guides and examples. Start off by reproducing how one operates on Windows 95. Show them that Warp isn't really so different. This should be easy since all things that Windows 95 does are really subsets of Warp anyway. Then, slowly introduce the user to the alternative methods of doing similar things. In other words, Warp'em slow! We don't want to blow a fuse on the first encounter.

Well as you can see, much more needs to happen from this point. After all this is a "try it before you buy it" idea. But rather than discussing this, we first need to produce the CD with the deliverable image.

Team

In pondering as to who should put this scheme into action, my thoughts keep coming back to Warpstock. Here is an organized event for the good of the OS/2 community. OS/2 users taking charge of OS/2. I like it. In a similar vein, this effort could also be a collaborative effort of OS/2 users and OS/2 independent software vendors.

Here's a possible team:

To be realistic, I don't expect the CD sampler can be produced for free. I would envision a $20 charge credited toward full registration fee of Warp. I do, however, see a cost offset by packing additional related software with the Warp CD sample. A good example is the drive imaging product itself. PowerQuest or GhostSoft or somebody could really shine!

When Do We Start?

Looking at my date book, may I suggest now? :-) The next year will witness a tremendous amount of Microsoft movement. Many in the industry see this as a golden opportunity to interject a bit of IBM calmness in a frantic computing environment. Many users will be thoroughly confused as to the many choices they have with Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4 and Windows NT 5.

This means more opportunity for Warp!

I'm interested in your comments. Send the good as well as the bad. My e-mail is: prl@swva.net.

* * *

Pierre LaFlamme is the owner of SE&C, a small structural engineering firm located in southwestern Virginia. His company specializes in construction documents for commercial and industrial buildings. He began using OS/2 in 1995 with Warp 3.0 and has become a fan of the Workplace Shell and the fine underpinnings of the OS/2 operating system.


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