Subj : Re: The Downfall of OS/2
To   : Nightfox
From : tenser
Date : Tue May 16 2023 05:44:26

On 14 May 2023 at 02:06p, Nightfox pondered and said...
 
 Ni> The Windows compatibility layer in OS/2 was pretty cool.  It did make
 Ni> sense as a a way to phase out Windows in favor of OS/2 (and I think that
 Ni> was probably the original plan - Microsoft was originally working with
 Ni> IBM on OS/2, and Bill Gates himself even once said he thought OS/2 was
 Ni> the "platform for the 90s"). But with Windows continuing to exist in the
 Ni> market and becoming more popular, developers apparently thought it would
 Ni> be best to just make a Windows version of their software.

The book, "Showstopper!" about the development of Windows NT
gives a lot of color here.  Basically, Microsoft wanted to
stop "riding the bear" that was IBM, DEC messed up by pissing
off Dave Cutler enough that he decamped for MSFT, and the
computing landscape was changing, with capabilities that had
been reserved for minicomputers and mainframes popping up on
workstations and PCs.  OS/2 was an IBM thing, was mostly staffed
by second-rate engineers, Cutler wanted to do another operating
system building on what he'd learned at Dupont and DEC, and
Gates did what he did best: he saw an opportunity and took it.
The rest is history.  Ironically, OS/2 got much better, but by
then the die was cast.

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