Sorry, there is no Portuguese
version this month.
The hour is now. We have been simple users since I can remember, and we are seriously discriminated against by large enterprises, such as Microsoft, Intel and, of course, IBM.
The fact is: IBM is not looking at us at this time, and will not look any more if we are not able to organize ourselves into bigger groups, and I mean, A GREAT group.
Its clear to me (and to all of us) that OS/2 is THE Operating System, but IBM denies our access to it, saying, "Our target are the mid-to-large enterprises"... But...
We are just another boring people trying to get another version of a good program... A people that help with the development of the system, but a people that cannot fill the pockets of IBM's directors. And this will not change, in the mind of IBM.
Looking at today's configuration of the market, I'm afraid to say that YES, they are right! And they will not put a single cent of dollar of investment to provide us a new version of OS/2. They will invest, yes, but on a system that provides all the features that the target market wants.
Several people have united under one flag: destroy Microsoft Software Monopoly, but they have forgot that, once Microsoft has fallen, who will provide us software? Linus Torvalds surely not. He has a good operating system, but has not the support and the money of a big, strong enterprise behind him... We need a better leader. And that leader may be IBM.
Of course, if we are just a few users spread around the world, IBM will not even think about our "revolution", but if we are united in a single kind of syndicate, an OS/2 User's Syndicate (OUS - or something alike) we have a chance.
YES! We were injured by big software vendors since I began to understand "what is software," and this must STOP! Its time to say, "That's Enough!" And this movement had already begun.
WarpX prepared one of its pages with a Warp 5 petition, named 21Warp: Let's take OS/2 into the 21st century!, which is a BIG start for such a union. All people that have signed that petition is, at least, unhappy with IBM, and think the vendor could do something more than what is doing.
A type of syndicate would be great, and could be the first initiative on this way, something that can change the "computing world," a world where there is no place for enterprises like Microsoft. But we cannot do anything alone.
IBM is lost. They lost their confidence, and the consequence is that the users are losing their confidence in IBM. IBM needs us, as we need it. They think not, but they are wrong! An enterprise without confident users will slowly fade to "death," and I don't think that IBM's directors wants this.
So, I have started a single page of information about IBM, and I hope that everyone contributes to it. This page has one target: show IBM how they had made mistakes and try to alert them so they can avoid big trouble.
This page is called Institute of Black Magic.
The I.B.M. is a site dedicated to tell IBM's past history. The good and the bad times. Tell the ascend and descend of IBM products, show that they are not indestructible, and show that WE are ORGANIZED... We have a common opinion.
The page is in a very early stage, so I expect you all to contribute with its growth, because this is not my page. This is OUR page. The page is all in English. Please, visit it at: http://www.os2brasil.com/novidades/ibm.shtml and give your contribution with a better world!
Suggestions, News, Everything You Want To Say!
Please, if you have any comments to this page, send me by e-mail!
| Daniel Jorge Caetano is a student of Civil Engineering at the Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP). He has nine years of extensive experience in the use of OS/2. He is member of the Student's Association on the University, and writes the "computers" section of the Association Publication. Daniel has solid knowledge in C programming and lots of knowledge on "the way that the operating systems works." He was a member of the "former" Sao Paulo OS/2 User Group, Brazil. He supported OS/2, for a period of time, on STI BBS, the 2nd largest BBS/Internet Provider in Brazil, and actually is "reformulating" the OS/2 Section on that BBS and creating an FTP on that provider, as well as doing an Internet Access Kit for OS/2 to be included on the CD distributed for the provider's users. |
