The reward for these efforts is OS/2 is still widely used by German banks and insurances both as a server and client. While "WorkSpace On-Demand" is not called OS/2 by IBM, it is still a Warp 4 with some management enhancements that delivers one of the best manageable client platforms available today decreasing efficiently the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) per workstation.
As far as the SOHO market is concerned, IBM Germany's push of Warp 3 into the SOHO market let big PC-resellers like Vobis, Comtech and Escom pre-install OS/2 Warp 3. This made OS/2 quite well known and widely used by the SOHO users, too.
Unfortunately, today IBM does not push OS/2 Warp 4 like that anymore. This might give SOHO users the impression that IBM has somewhat abandoned OS/2, just as the press has (in Germany as well as in the US).
This is where Team OS/2 Germany comes into place. This grassroots movement (quite similar to Team OS/2 in the US) was founded in 1994, being supported by IBM Germany until around 1997 with material and help for administrating several hundreds of members.
Team OS/2 members engage themselves in promoting OS/2, helping OS/2 users with their problems, demonstrating OS/2 in PC reseller stores, organizing web sites for OS/2 and lots more.
As Team OS/2 grew to nearly a thousand members, it organized itself in regions. In some regions local associations were founded in order to enable local groups to manage them more efficiently, which was especially important after Team OS/2 did not receive further support by IBM.
In the last two years the following associations were founded:
Further, TeamOS/2 Deutschland eV (iG) is currently being founded as an umbrella organization for the local associations (http://www.buntspecht.de/dachverband). This organization will support the local teams by implementing common administrative and nationwide tasks, providing a unique way to interact with the press (e.g. with a press spokesman) and software vendors and supporting the founding of new local associations.
To further describe Team OS/2: the Team OS/2 members are OS/2 advocates, not OS/2 evangelists. While we don't want to persuade everybody at all costs to install OS/2 on their PC, we invite everybody to come to our meetings and have a look at how we use OS/2 to do the same things as others do with their operating systems. After that, everybody has to decide for him/herself to switch to OS/2 or not. Besides the operating system, all PC users face the same challenges like setting up TCP/IP for Internet connection, installing and using Java, programming for and porting software to the used platform, using available software etc. Even a non-OS/2 user might get some valuable information here, just as we have learned and continue to learn from other platforms like Linux and Win32.
Yes, it sometimes is a struggle to get certain drivers or apps for OS/2, but then OS/2 in our eyes rewards us with much more stability and a far better desktop GUI, not to speak of many OS/2 applications, that ARE REALLY available (believe it or not). Maybe for OS/2 you won't look at the mainstream software, but instead search and find adequate solutions with software from rather small software vendors, which are sometimes far better than the so-called mainstream software. And if you have problems, you'll find drivers and software much more quickly with the help of Team OS/2.
A German OS/2 user can support OS/2 and Team OS/2 by becoming a member of one of the local associations. If a local association does not yet exist within a region, the existing local associations will support the founding of a new one, if wanted. The local associations raise membership fees, which allow them to independently undertake the tasks stated above, as of course without money certain things cannot be realized. More, OS/2 specialists of various kinds gather in Team OS/2 associations. As an example, Team OS/2 Ruhr e.V., which I have the honor to be the president of, includes members like famous authors or porters of well known OS/2 programs and extensions like "Changi/2", "Animated Mouse Pointers for OS/2" or the person, who is responsible for testing printer drivers for Epson, Germany (guess where the new Epson drivers are from ...). Having said that, it is not very difficult to imagine what the benefit for each member is. A member has access to all kinds of information about OS/2 and to the OS/2 developer community and intensive help for installation problems. And all this is available near where a member lives. If somebody feels that he/she wants to help the OS/2 community, Team OS/2 itself provides lots of opportunities to do so. While it is of course possible to do something for OS/2 without being member of Team OS/2, more can be reached together.
Again, let me stress some examples of topics, that we deal with during our meetings and presentations of the local associations:
Team OS/2 Germany and its local associations provide considerable help and know-how to everybody interested in OS/2, no matter if somebody really uses OS/2 or only wants to have a look at it.
I'll finish my first report with one promise: the next one will be shorter ;-)
Please do not hesitate to send me any news related to OS/2 from around Germany.