================================================= 1996 OS/2 Review Magazine Awards ================================================= Each year, OS/2 Review Magazine awards the best of the best in the OS/2 Market! If you use OS/2, you should probably have most, if not all, of these OS/2 programs. ----------------- BEST WORD PROCESSOR: StarWriter (StarDivision) Word Pro might have more advanced features but Star Office delivered the goods. It's easy to use, a good performer. In Europe, Star Office is a big player in the office market going toe to toe with Microsoft. RUNNER UP: Word Pro (Lotus/IBM) Arriving late in the year in its general availability form, Word Pro offers state of the art features from the company that makes OS/2. ----------------- BEST SPREADSHEET: Mesa/2 (Sundial) A truly native OS/2 spreadsheet that offers the power of any other spread sheet on the market. Sundial has put together a potential suite of products. RUNNER UP: StarCalc (Star Division) The English version of this program is still in beta but the German version is widely available (I think). If this program's English version was generally available, it may have won the top spot. ----------------- BEST MAINTENANCE UTILITY: GammaTech Utilities (SofTouch) It is beginning to show its age but the GammaTech Utilities still do all the basic disk repair/maintaining features that users need to run their systems in the long haul. Can repair disks, defragment drives, undelete files even on HPFS systems! Should be standard issue for every OS/2 user. RUNNER UP: Graham Utilities (WarpSpeed Computers) The dark horse in this category, the Graham Utilities don't have quite the polish of the GammaTech Utilities but do offer the power. It's a close call between these two. ----------------- BEST SYSTEM UTILITY: Process Commander (Stardock) Speaking of tools that should be standard issue for any OS/2 User, Process Commander not only gives OS/2 users the ability to recover from system hangs in a fairly reliable manner, it also lets people modify the keyboard layout, take a very close look at running processes, enhanced shutdown so that OS/2 can reboot on its own (my favorite) and more. RUNNER UP: Partition Magic (PowerQuest) Though PowerQuest is moving slowly away from the OS/2 market, Partition Magic continues to be a handy tool for administrators and power users who need to manage their partitions. Not only does it let you resize partitions on the fly, it also can tell you how much space you will use. The latest version can convert FAT32 to FAT and vice versa which is crucial in newer systems. ----------------- BEST SYSTEM ENHANCEMENT: Object Desktop (Stardock) After installing Object Desktop, people can barely tell what is part of the base OS and what is Object Desktop. The power and attraction of OS/2 is its ability to be enhanced by third parties. Object Desktop gives OS/2 itself the ability to treat ZIP, RAR, TAR, LZH files as regular OS/2 folders. Add virtual desktops, system status bars, the Tab Launchpad, User defined Keyboard hotkeys and it's easy to see why this program is the world's most popular OS/2 program. RUNNER UP: Xit Xit started out as just a close button the title bar. Now, it adds multiple buttons to the title bar that look just like they are part of OS/2 itself. Now OS/2 users can have task lists and user defined buttons on the title bar. A definite must for any OS/2 hacker. ----------------- BEST GRAPHICS TOOL: Neon Graphics (Neon) This extremely rich rendering package is a definite look at for any professional studio. In slightly different circumstances, it could be the Video Toaster for OS/2 equivalent. Powerful, easy to use, and well priced, Neon Graphics is this year's best single reason to check out OS/2. RUNNER UP: ColorWorks (SPG) Possibly the most powerful photo graphics package ever developed. ColorWorks shows the power of OS/2's threads by giving users unbelievably good performance. ColorWorks V2 has the best out of box experience of any OS/2 product I've ever seen. A full textbook comes with it and there's little you can't do with ColorWorks. ----------------- BEST GAME: Trials of Battle (Stardock) OS/2 gamers screamed for DOOM and cried for Quake. Stardock/Shadowsoft's Trials of Battle delivers what ID promised but failed to deliver. A true 3D engine, fast gameplay and real multiplayer gaming experience that no other OS/2 game on the market can touch. Any OS/2 user that remotely thinks of games should get ahold of this game. RUNNER UP: Galactic Civilizations II (Stardock) Technically released in the final weeks of 1995, Galactic Civilizations really hit its pace in 1996 as Stardock released a free update (V2.5) to the public. The non-cheating AI provides great challenge and the beautiful graphics and music are a joy to experience. It is not just one of the most popular OS/2 games of all time, it is one of the most popular games of all time in the entire gaming industry. ----------------- BEST BACKUP SOLUTION: Back Again/2 (Computer Data Strategies) SCSI and IDE tape drive users have a native solution to their OS/2 backup needs. Back Again/2 is fast, easy to use, and reliable at backing up systems. A IDE specific version of Back Again/2 is bundled with Object Desktop Professional as Object Backup making Back Again/2's file format the standard in the OS/2 market. Every OS/2 user should have some form of backup and Computer Data Strategies owns this market in the backup arena. RUNNER UP: DualStor (IBM) DualStor supports many drives, is easy to use, and comes from IBM. While not quite as good as Back Again/2, it is more than enough for most users. ----------------- BEST MAIL PACKAGE: PM Mail (SouthSoft) PM Mail is easily the best e-mail package for OS/2 users. It has a nice UI, drag and drop support, and powerful filters. The new v1.9 now supports PGP encryption. If you use Internet mail, you should have PM Mail. RUNNER UP: PostRoad Mailer (Innoval) PostRoad mailer isn't as spiffy as PM Mail but is slightly more powerful in certain areas. The hacker's dream program shows through in PostRoad Mailer. ----------------- BEST DATABASE: DB/2 (IBM) IBM's standard database runs on multiple platforms and has been around enough to have all the kinks worked out. What can I say? It's a great database. RUNNER UP: R:Base Also a great database. RBase has been around the block as well. ----------------- BEST COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAM: ZOC (EmTech) This is the people's favorite communications package. It truly shows how the shareware concept can really work for users as well as companies. Customer feedback has molded ZOC into a powerful and user oriented package. RUNNER UP: HyperAccess/2 (Hilgrave) I would have awarded HA/2 the winner since it is a bit easier to use from a general user standpoint. However, EmTech's commitment to its customers goes beyond the call of duty giving ZOC just a slight edge. ----------------- PRODUCT OF THE YEAR: Object Desktop Professional (Stardock) Stardock just about wrapped up all the problems users have with OS/2 and put it together into a single product. This is possibly the single most amazing product I have ever seen. It is like a Spaghetti sauce commercial "It's in there!". Everything from file viewing almost every type of file you could imagine, to security, to scheduling, to backup, to Class Table Maintenance, to including every feature of Object Desktop itself. Books could be written about how wonderful this program is. RUNNER UP: Star Office (StarDivision) As individual products, StarDivision's programs are top notch. Put them together in a single product and you have an incredible value. A word processor, a spread sheet, a graphics program, and a lot more make Star Office a great value. Even more, it gives OS/2 users the option of having a truly native OS/2 office suite without having to resort to Windows. ----------------- OS/2 SOFTWARE COMPANY OF THE YEAR: Stardock Systems, Inc. Stardock came through in a big way for OS/2 users. When all seemed darkest for OS/2, Stardock comes up and release a whole slew of native OS/2 programs. While often the favorite whipping boy of the petty and vindictive on UseNet, Stardock's customer support is possibly unmatched in the industry. Not only do they have free phone support, free Internet support, they also have people who regularly visit the Internet and other online routes to help users out there. In 1996, Stardock released Galactic Civilizations, Shipyards, Object Desktop 1.5, Object Desktop Professional, Avarice, Trials of Battle, and Process Commander, and probably others I don't know about. If any company could be considered OS/2's guardian angel, Stardock would be it. RUNNER UP: Sundial, Inc. Sundial repeatedly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. When Mesa/2 went down, Sundial picked it up. When Clearlook looked doomed, Sundial picked it up. Sundial's commitment to OS/2 is strong and their commitment to OpenDoc seems even stronger. Look for big things to come from Sundial in 1997! ----------------- OS/2 ADVOCATE OF THE YEAR: Indelible Blue Indelible Blue does so much for the OS/2 community that it is hard to keep track of it. My local user group gets monthly mailings from the mail order house and you can tell from their ads just how much they love OS/2. If you live in the United States, Indelible Blue is probably your best choice to buy your native OS/2 software from. RUNNER UP: Esther Schindler It was tough to choose between Esther and Stardock for the runner up position. Stardock did, afterall, found the 32bit Alliance which gave us full page OS/2 oriented ads in all the magazines. But I figured Stardock had won enough awards today and Esther Schindler has been largely unrecognized for her efforts to bring OS/2 into the mainstream. A reknowned columnist who hasn't let her love of OS/2 blind her to the realities of the market, Mrs. Schindler's undying efforts to get the fledgling OS/2 market to grow up before it gets steam rolled is nothing short of heroic. Moreover, her technical knowledge of OS/2 has allowed her to get OS/2 mentioned in the general media far more than it would have if she did not exist. ----------------- Conclusions: 1996 was a turbulent year for OS/2, OS/2 software vendors, and the OS/2 user base. But OS/2 survived and continues to thrive on the desktops of power users and corporate users all over the world. I hope that 1997 brings us more new and exciting developments for the OS/2 market. SUMMARIES/LINKS: Star Division 3 Awards http://www.stardiv.de Lotus/IBM 1 Award http://www.ibm.com Sundial 2 Awards http://www.sundialsystems.com SofTouch 1 Award http://www.softtouch.com WarpSpeed Computers 1 Award Stardock 6 Awards http://www.stardock.com SPG 1 Award http://www.spg-net.com Computer Data Strategies 1 Award http://www.cds-inc.com SouthSoft 1 Award http://www.southsoft.com Innoval 1 Award http://www.innoval.com EmTech 1 Award http://www.emtech.com Hilgrave 1 Award http://www.hilgrave.com Indelible Blue 1 Award 1-800-776-8284 ----- You may retransmit this article provided that you do it in its entirety. (c) 1997 Alex Bradley (c) 1997 OS/2 Review Magazine All trademarks within this document are owned by whoever owns them. :-)