OS/2 Shareware BBS: 32 Periodic/32-Periodic.zip/chgorept.zip/CHGOREPT.993

Text File | 1993-09-02 | 6KB | 107 lines

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 │ │  ┌││┐              The GREATER CHICAGO Report   September, 1993
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 │ └┐ │  │      After one of the user group meetings recently, several of
 │  ├─┴┐ │      us went out and had dinner with one of the vendors who had
 │  │  │ │      come to our meeting to demo his software product.  I won't
                refer to this person by name, but would just like to say
that his company is generally considered to be pro-OS/2 although they DO
develop products for other platforms (and have a considerable following).

I felt our discussion was worth relating, however, much of it was "off the
record" and I don't intend to violate that confidence.  But I came away
with some sobering conclusions about OS/2 and what IBM's challenge is
in the near term.

A.  IBM has never handled the PC business very well.  If anything they spent
the entire 1980s protecting the mainframe. To some, this is OS/2's heritage.

B.  The reason MicroSoft (Windows) continues to outsell OS/2, even though
OS/2 is the better platform isn't because MicroSoft has so much of a hold on
developers and software vendors as it is the confidence the user places in
the future of Windows as opposed to the future of OS/2 and what IBM will
do with it.

C.  IBM's sensitivity to user requirements and requests continues to be
spotty.  Several users related during the meeting previous to our dinner
conversation that they had asked for information at the previous month's
meeting where IBM speakers were in attendance, and they had still not
heard from IBM on issues raised.   Improvements have been seen in some
user group contact points in IBM corporate, but not so much at the field
level.  At least not in Chicago.

D.  What happens to OS/2 is entirely in IBM's hands.  Much of the
success of OS/2 2.1 is due (not to minimize the importance of the operating
system development and support) to the grass roots movement within user
groups and the user community.  If IBM can't capitalize on this, then OS/2
will never outrun Windows, DOS and the MicroSoft future operating system.
IBM has a Golden Goose.  And the grass roots people know it.  It isn't
apparent sometimes that IBM knows it.  IBM needs every IBM employee's eyes
open, on target, and in focus on OS/2 opportunities in the marketplace.
This means putting people with OS/2 skills directly in contact with User
Groups and the User Community.  One David Barnes or one Chris Novak can't
do it by themselves.  Chicago needs about 18 Chris Novaks just doing what
Chris Novak is currently doing.  Right now they have 18 Chris Novaks, but
only one of them is doing what Chris is doing.  The rest are doing something
else.  And Chris can't do it all.

E.  When IBM says they're going to do something in front of a bunch of
users, they need to follow up on it.  If somebody is going to be a main
focal point for IBM communication by Compuserve or Internet or whatever,
and that is stated publicly, they need to follow up on it - not 60 days
from then but immediately.  Sixty days is one sixth of a full year.
That's a beta period for some software products.

F.  Software developers are impressed with the new OS/2.  It's not the
old stuffy product that they knew of in the eighties.  IBM needs to fund
or subsidize development of OS/2 software products.  Or get into the
business themselves.  One of the big reasons that Windows has been so
successful is the fact that MicroSoft gave it away.  Remember?  I do.
There were times when I saw Windows 3.0 for less than $50.  Many times it
was free with a copy of one of MicroSoft's Windows Apps (like Word or
Excel).

I'm criticizing IBM, I guess, in hopes that it will be taken as constructive
criticism, generate thought and discussion on the subject, and motivate some
of our readers here to keep IBM's feet to the fire.  For they do have a
Golden Goose and sometimes it looks like IBM doesn't know it (at least when
they try to market it).  It's our Golden Goose.  We know its value.
And while they are still trying to get their bearings in this new
restructuring they are implementing, IBM's PSP needs to strike now, with
a marketing surge while OS/2 has the advantage.  Now is not the time to
rest because MicroSoft has faltered with NT.  Now is the time to put OS/2
over the top.

Any of this that you've read here doesn't mean you should drop OS/2 and
join the Msoft forces.  Quite the contrary.  OS/2 has no equal.  And the
support IBM provides is quite adequate, and in many cases, without equal.
What it does mean is that OS/2, if it doesn't push out beyond it present
state and really bite into the marketshare for operating systems, will
never reach its full potential.  The applications that take
advantage of its 32bit architecture and its magnificent threading
capability will never get developed.  Software houses will simply opt
for the big cash opportunities.  OS/2 still runs Windows and DOS programs
better than Windows and DOS.  But Windows and DOS programs will be all
it gets to run, because the advanced OS/2 applications simply won't get
produced.  That's a fact of life.  And no one should know that better
than Big Blue.

Until next month,



    Your SysOp           __      _  _  __
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     o   o   o   o    /___/_<_</_</ (__/ (_) (_) / <_


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