Everyone: Thanks for the feedback, Here's some other news bites; ============================ Jerry's View: by Jerry Golick 71175,1011 Number 2: 20NOV93 - Forrester's Computing Strategy Research Brief (CSRB) (09AUG93) reports that WinPad slipped again (for the second time). They estimate that it will be 12-18 months before Window-based "mutants" (to compete with Apple's Newton and AT&T/EO). They suggest that cloners may break rank with Bill and start working with those companies who have products. Ed: I love my OS/2 on my desk and laptop but I also LOVE my Newton. JG: - Forrester's CSRB (09JUL93) headline "MICROSOFT: THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE" Ed: Great headline, don't you think? JG: Here's more good stuff from Forrester; CSRB (24SEP93) headline "MICROSOFT ABANDONS ITS DESKTOP DREAM FOR NT" - the report quotes Paul Maritz ( Microsoft vp for operating systems) as providing the following outlines: 1) "Windows NT is for the server, NOT the desktop" 2) "In the middle of 1994" Chicago will succeed Windows 3.1. It will provide 32 architecture, preemptive multitasking, something called "modifications to the Windows interface", run in 4MB of RAM, etc. The interesting part is a little comment at the end about Win 3.1 being "pulled from the street" (ED: read support dropped? JG). 3) "Cairo" will appear sometime in 1995 (ED: Shades of Taligent!). And I quote "First ballyhooed as ' a next- generation fully object-oriented operating system'...it is now described as "using object-principles to layer more options onto the base technology of NT'" (ED: Sounds kinda slippery to me. JG:) Sorry to keep with Forrester but I just received their Oct/93 "Computing Strategy Report" on "The Super Client" and there are some things that are too good to pass up. The premise of the article is that all client machines in corporate networks will become "super clients" over the next two years. While I think that the machine that they are specifying is light (ie: 486, 14 MB RAM, 32-bit operating system) they have some interesting quotes. JG Page 10 - "Microsoft's directional flip-flops..... Users, ISV's, and system programmers that targeted NT as their super client operating system are now being told to refocus on 'Chicago'" Page 10 - "OS/2 2.1 is the only 32-bit preemptive multitasking operating system currently boasting reasonable hardware requirements, solid performance with Windows applications, and a multi-million unit installed base." Page 12 - "IBM must learn that bashing NT will not provide a long term, unique identity for OS/2." Page 12 - "Microsoft Windows 3.x cakewalk ends. The company faces a difficult situation." ED: seems like the message is finally getting through, hmmm? JG: OK, enough Forrester, on to the news.... Computerworld (01NOV93) Page 1 - Seems like the Cairo object extensions will be delivered sometime in 1995. One of the principal uses will be to implement a directory scheme to compete with Netware 4.0. Novell does not appear worried. They have their directory now and have two years (at least) to advance their product line. Page 1 - headline "IBM gives OK to NT on PowerPC". The article goes on to say that this may hurt the Workplace OS. Probably not available till the first half of 1994. Page 8 - "IBM announces another down quarter". A net loss of $48 million for 3rd quarter. Not good. The only good news is that PC revenues increasing significantly. Page 14 - In response to Novell's MultiProtocol Router Microsoft and Cisco will join forces to deliver a PC- based router to support the NT operating environment. Page 20 - headline - "DEC pushes OSF/1 as NT simmers" - seems that DEC is now forecasting a two year ramp-up for NT. Short term plans are for OSF/1 operating system on alpha. Page 32 - editorial page - "Don't look now but the sound you hear may be from the cracks in the Microsoft operating system edifice" Paul Gillin, editor Computerworld. Another great quote - " So, in the ultimate tribute to IBM, Microsoft is using the old Blue trick of fear, uncertainty and doubt, or FUD, to freeze customer buying decisions. .... The trouble is, customers don't have to wait. All that stuff is available right now from Microsoft competitors. Uh oh. Crack." ED: You gotta love it JG: Page 38 - Motorola and IBM announce that they have produced the first silicon for the PowerPC 603 chip. IMPORTANT NOTE! - page 37 - the good people at Stac Electronics have announced conversion utilities to help DOS Stacker clients migrate to OS/2 for Windows. Not only will in convert the Stac's DOS compression and IBM PC-DOS 6.1 Superstor utility but, get this, it will also convert people using Microsoft's DoubleSpace. This means that all current MS-DOS 6.0/Win 3.1 users can get into OS/2 nice and easy. ED: You think the Stac people are getting even? JG: Page 66 - note really OS/2 related but IBM announced that next version of LAN Server will provide full support for OSF/DCE. Novell will only support a small subset. Computerworld (08NOV93) Page 1 - Microsoft will port Siemens AG X.500 (directory) software to NT. Delivery sometime in 1994. Quote from Dan Shelly, a NT product manager, "We want to ensure that NT is the ultimate open platform, and we are certainly looking at X.500." Note that IBM will have full X.500 offering on LAN Server (due to OSF/DCE offering). Also OS/2 2.1 DCE client will allow you to ACCESS those services. Page 4 - headline - "OS/2 developers get their first whiff of Taligent". First set of Taligent frameworks will be shipped this month to selected developers. An interesting sidebar to the article indicates that simple calculator program that allows two people on different machines to share the same data only took 70 lines of code under Taligent. This would take 3000-4000 lines of code under Windows or Presentation Manager. Page 20 - Computer Associates (CA) announces the release of CA-Realizer 2.0, a graphical development toolkit for Windows and OS/2. Normally I wouldn't put anything in here about product releases but a number of quotes in the article seem to indicate that you might want to check this out. Introductory price of $99. BTW - I counted 11 new OS/2 product offerings in this issue. Page 37 - headline - "OS/2 makes headway in corporate arena". This article talks about the 200,000 copies of OS/2 that have been licensed to corporate accounts in the last few months. Predicts that 3 million copies will be shipped by the end of the year. Quote from Neal Hill, former senior software analyst at Forrester Research Inc, "These corporate deals are bubbling up because (OS/2 2.1) can do things like maintain three or four communications sessions reliably out a client back end". Ferengi (OS/2 for Windows) also is mentioned as a way to pull a lot of Windows clients into OS/2. The strategy by Microsoft seems to be to have their OEM's bundle W4WG instead of Win 3.1 on new systems. ED: Hoo boy! Did Wordperfect make a mistake or what? Now we have grassroot and corporate OS/2 foundations. Happy days! JG: ================================= Parting shots - For those who may not have heard IBM has submitted OS/2 to the US Goverment for C2 security certification. Also IBM has announced that SMP (symetrical Multi-Processing) under OS/2 will be available around Feb/94. Finally if you have not seen the Texas Shootout Video find a copy and stand up and cheer. NT was blown away so badly that Microsfot has requested that all future copies of the tape only have the OS/2 presentation. Find an "unofficial" copy with both presentations. Dave Barnes is great! Well that's it for this Jerry View. You can close the file now. The next part is about who I am since some people asked. BTW - I am thinking about making the next View in INF format. This would tend to make the file larger (and therefore more expensive to download) what do you think? ================================= A very short profile of Jerry Golick Jerry is 41 years old and, by trade, works as an advisory consultant and trainer in the area of network integration and technology assessment. He spends about 40 weeks on the road each year. His principal clients come from Fortune 1000 companies. He has been involved in computers and data communications for about 17 years. He is completely amazed that he finds himself approving, applauding and using IBM products. He is also Canadian. Hence the accent, eh? Be seeing you, Jerry ===================================