OS/2 e-Zine! - Chris' Rant

Chris' Rant

- by Chris Wenham

What's gotten into you?

At times I don't understand the OS/2 community at all. Right at the point where everyone should be feeling good, they're not. Instead, I see morale at the lowest its been in years and an overall defeatist attitude creeping up on us. And all I have to say is: "What has gotten into you?"

Out comes Warp 4 and in it we find not one, not two, not even just three but four CD-ROMs crammed with stuff. They put OpenDoc in it, they pour Java into it, they weave OpenGL into it, bolt on a new GUI, then stick VoiceType in it and to drive the point home they stuff a headset microphone in the box to emphatically point out, "Yes, you can even talk to the thing now!"

IBM marches over to the offices of Netscape, beats up a few suits and walks out with a port of Navigator. They keep hammering on the Java support until it's the fastest in the business, then make sure that owners of Warp 3.0 can run it too.

And they're still at work on it. There's a Network Computer version in the works, the server version is being fitted to better compete with Windows NT and if that isn't enough there are even rumors leaking out on Warp 5.0 (if Warp 4.1 isn't out by the time you read this, it should be within a few days).

So what's up with these people who can't find anything better to do than moan about the copy protection on Process Commander's first FixPak? What's the matter with the ones who are still convinced OS/2 has been "orphaned" when IBM executives are practically blue in the face and beating their heads against the wall saying otherwise. HELLO?? Microsoft themselves up and admitted that OS/2 is whupping NT's hide in the Banking industry.

What's wrong with this picture?

Contrary to popular opinion the sky is not falling, the world is not coming to an end and Bill Gates is not God. It just depends on what perspective you have. And I got news for ya, OS/2's not lying in the coffin you're banging nails into.

Just remind yourself of a few things the next time a doomsayer story comes trolling by. Your money is just as green as everyone else's. You, the customer, are King. Everybody has the right to their own opinion and if you don't agree with it you have the right to flip them the bird. The 'B' in IBM has always stood for 'Business.' And you decide where you want to go today.

I see where some of this is stemming from though. Too many OS/2 journalists (like me) have been moaning and groaning and being all-round sourpusses, making mountains out of molehills and looking to the year 2000 with more pessimism than a COBOL programmer. Well I'll be the first to can the chicken-little routine. Let's see if others can, too, eh?

Lighten up!

Chris Wenham is a Team OS/2er in Binghamton, NY with a catchy-titled company -- Wenham's Web Works. He has written comedy, sci-fi, HTML, Pascal, C++ and now writes software reviews.

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