Future Of OS/2 Client In Doubt Again
(09/22/97; 9:02 a.m. EDT)
By Edward F. Moltzen and Barbara Darrow, Computer Reseller News

ARMONK, N.Y. -- The 1998 budget axe is being sharpened at IBM, and the
market-battered OS/2 client is fighting to keep its neck off the
chopping block.

For the first time, executives at the computer giant say the operating
system could lose the fight.

"In terms of the budget, I can't tell you where things stand," said John
Albee, IBM's OS/2 Warp program manager.

IBM had been saying it would release a major new, shrink-wrapped upgrade
to the client operating system in 1998 -- and Albee said no decision has
been made to abandon that. But unlike OS/2 executives in past years,
Albee made no iron-clad guarantees. "We constantly evaluate the plan,"
he said.

The OS/2 server, however, is not in question, executives said.

Albee said IBM was committed to offering new functions and features for
OS/2, that the company was on schedule to offer those functions as they
become available, and that it would offer more than bug fixes for
products that go into maintenance.

However, other executives at IBM said units outside the OS/2 team have
been developing many of the new features for the client as Albee's
colleagues at IBM's Personal Software Products Group, in Austin, Texas,
focus more on Java.

Michael Lawrie, general manager of the PSP group, went so far as to say
to others at the unit that there is no funding left for the platform,
said one executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

IBM has been loathe to publicly suggest -- in front of its installed
base -- that it is hedging its bets on OS/2.

However, IBM also is pushing its Workspace On Demand product, formerly
code-named Bluebird, as a server-based client OS.

"All of this is still kind of up in the air," an IBM source said.

Earlier this month, at a meeting with consultants in Chantilly, Va.,
John M. Thompson, IBM's senior vice president for software, was asked
directly about future OS/2 development and was non-committal, sources
said.

"He kind of looked up and said: 'What do you want me to say?' " said
Frank Dzubeck, president of Communication Network Architects, in
Washington. "He said, 'For our customers who are still using it, we will
continue to maintain it.' "