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Re: OS/2 Porting
Hi,
I've tried an old version of Executor for DOS and found it to run fairly
well under OS2, however, there's nothing like a native port--also more and
more OS2 users are running in protected mode only where there is no
DOS/Win support. While I am happy that you would like to do an OS2 port, I
believe you'd be well off to do the OS2 port before (or in tandem with)
the Win32 port. Perhaps you could implement the port using DAX. I believe
the OS2 community will reward ARDI more (in sales) than the Win32
community. For one thing, most popular Mac apps are already available on
Windows as well (with many coming or already Win32). IBM has tried giving
financial support for OS2 ports to companies in the past and it's not paid
off for them. Corel is the biggest example. IBM's not likely to
financially support companies that aren't already in the OS2 market and
wants to preserve and better its relationship with Apple in attempts to
license MacOS for forthcoming PowerPC (CHRP) systems in '97.
It's been my experience that OS2 users are very receptive of getting Mac
support. There's been a lot of discussion about trying to implement HFS
access in OS2 (which cannot be done as an IFS given HFS disk volume info
is located in a spot other than expected under the current Intel OS2 IFS
system--the new IFS system for OS2 PPC is much more flexible). There's
been much discussion about trying to get Mac developer's to do ports, get
Mac emulation (even if it is 7.x & 68K support) and other Macintosh
technologies. I have not seen that kind of thing on the Windows platform;
instead it goes the other way: Mac's needing to run Windows.
I've been a Mac user since 1985, an OS2 user since 1989, and a Windows
user since 1988, NeXT since 1990. I also applaud ARDI sticking by the NeXT
community. I really believe ARDI's next port should be to OS2. It's a
platform with a tiny number of third-party general business applications,
a user base around 15 million and contrary to the press' FUD, IBM's
long-term support.
That's my 2 cents.
Ed Deans.
eadeans@aol.com
Ed Deans
TeamOS2
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