Apple Reference & Presen…rary 8 (Internal Edition)/Apple R&P Lib Internal v8.0.iso/3-Presentations/Apple Computer Inc./Industry Competition/ROMs/Software/Mac vs OS⁄2 pt. 6

Text File | 1990-06-24 | 16.7 KB | 386 lines | [TEXT/GEOL]

Pt. 6

Apple confidential

Microsoft changes its message, promotes Windows

When IBM made its announcement at COMDEX that OS/2 was a much more strategic
operating environment than Windows, Microsoft endorsed that announcement
publicly.  However, since that announcement, Microsoft has downplayed many of
the things that were announced, and has indicated that Windows is, and will
continue to be, a very strategic operating environment.

In one example, after COMDEX Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s senior vice president
of systems, told Computerworld: “We haven’t capped Windows in any way, shape,
or form.”  This directly contradicts the COMDEX press release in which
Microsoft stated that “Windows is not intended to be used as a server, nor will
future releases contain advanced OS/2 features such as distributed processing,
the 32-bit flat memory model, threads, or long file names.”

Recently, Microsoft has begun positioning OS/2 as a very high-end solution that
competes with UNIX, rather than DOS.  For example, Steve Ballmer said that
“OS/2’s success today is coming in mission critical applications at large
companies—not replacing DOS [but] rather in place of Unix...We won’t see a
phenomenon where there is a wholesale switch to OS/2 from DOS.  We now see DOS
and OS/2 as a family” (InfoWorld, 2/12/90, p. 8).

Thus, Microsoft is giving two conflicting messages.  When expedient, it claims
that Windows will not be enhanced in certain areas and that OS/2 is the way
that most customers should go.  However, we suspect that Microsoft is giving
its real opinion when it says that Windows is not being limited, and that
OS/2’s primary market is competing with UNIX on the very high end.


What does this mean to Apple?

The confusion in the PC compatibles world continues.  The codevelopers of OS/2
have different desires for what operating environment they want to succeed.
IBM wants OS/2 to be the winner, as soon as possible.  Microsoft wants Windows
3.0 to be the winner in the short term.

IBM and Microsoft continue to confuse customers and developers by giving them
different messages.  Apple can take advantage of this confusion by reminding
customers about Microsoft’s conflicting statements and by promoting the single
software environment of the Macintosh.
Appendix C:  OS/2 Extended Edition Features

Here is a description of OS/2 Extended Edition’s components:  the
Communications Manager, and the Database Manager.  We also discuss LAN Server,
which is an optional product running on OS/2 Extended Edition.  OS/2 Extended
Edition 1.1 is currently available; version 1.2 should be available by the end
of March.

Communications Manager.  Communications Manager is IBM’s set of protocols,
interfaces and emulations that enable a PC to communicate with other systems.
Communications Manager’s communication capabilities can be separated into two
groups:  host connectivity and PC networking.

The Communications Manager protocol that is most strategic for IBM is APPC
(Advanced Program to Program Communication).  APPC is the protocol IBM wants
its customers to develop sophisticated distributed applications on for both PC
to PC and PC to host networking.  APPC allows programs on different intelligent
machines to communicate without host intervention and without concern for the
medium connecting them.

Database Manager.  The Database Manager is a SQL-based database program.  It is
designed to allow systems running OS/2 Extended Edition to coexist in a
distributed database environment.

Version 1.2 of the Database Manager adds significant functionality to previous
versions.  A Presentation Manager-based GUI replaces the text-based user
interface.  Application development and database administration tools are
enhanced and numerous database functions are added.  The most significant
addition to Database Manager are the Remote Data Services that permit
client/server database processing on a LAN.  Still missing are LAN-to-LAN and
LAN-to-IBM host distributed database processing functionality, which IBM
promised in a statement of direction.

LAN Server.  LAN Server is IBM’s  LAN operating system which runs on OS/2
Extended Edition.  LAN Server is a separate product, costing $1,040.  It
provides file and print sharing, file locking, security, audit trails, etc.
Version 1.2, which is scheduled to ship on March 30, 1990,  includes built-in
Ethernet and Token-Ring support.

LAN Server is based on technology licensed from Microsoft, the same technology
Microsoft used in LAN Manager.  LAN Server is typical of LAN operating systems
in that not every machine on the network needs to run a LAN Server, only those
that will be making resources available to others.  The LAN Requester (client)
part of LAN Server is part of the OS/2 EE Communications Manager.





Appendix D:  Presentation Manager Screen Shots




Not included in the document


•  Windowed system editor.


Looks better.

•  Fonts look better on the Macintosh
•  Twice as many fonts come standard on the Macintosh (Presentation Manager
offers Courier, System Proportional, Times, Helvetica.  Macintosh offers
Geneva, Courier, Times, Helvetica, New York, Chicago, and Monaco.)

•  Overall Presentation Manager performance seems to be sluggish compared to
Macintosh.  For example, opening


Better performance.  [Summarize]

•  Applications run more slowly under Presentation Manager than under Macintosh.
NSTL results.
•  Presentation Manager takes about a half hour to install.
•  Virtual memory, although currently an advantage for OS/2, is very slow



•  Inconsistencies in Presentation Manager itself.  Task Manager uses ALT-F9/F10
to maximize/minimize windows  (uses ALT keys as its accelerator).  File Manager
uses CTRL-F9/F10 (uses CTRL keys as its accelerator). The Presentation Manager
Reference Application Model and User Interface says to use ALT keys, but the MS
representative says the standard will be CTRL keys.
•   The first app (SideKick) has a different look and feel that the standards MS
is setting.  For example, it uses ALT keys as its accelerator (ALT-O for open).
MS says this is wrong.  Describe uses CTRL-O.  However, other apps may use
Borland’s conventions as its guide.



Drag a document (from the File Manager) on top of an application (in either the
File Manager or the Desktop Manager) to open the file.

  Many of these Presentation Manager disadvantages are difficult to explain—you
have to use it to appreciate how awkward it can sometimes feel.

•  With OS/2, you can’t have applications appear in the top level.  You can only
add groups.  You can only start programs from a lower level group.  On the
Macintosh, you can have applications on the desktop that can be started
immediately.

•  OS/2 has three different modes for launching applications.  You can double
click on the application file in the File Manager (this is the way you do it on
the Macintosh).  You can double click on the application icon in the Desktop
Manager (if you have added that application’s pathname to the menu).  Or you
can do a “Search” and find that application program, thus seeing the
application in another mode, and launch it from there.


   •   Visible desktop.  In Presentation Manager, the desktop icons appear on top
of the application windows (when you ALT-ESC out of that application).  On the
Macintosh, you have to make the application windows smaller to get to icons on
the desktop, such as disks, the trash can, etc.  [System 7.0 will have Set
Aside, which performs that function, albeit taking more steps.]

  Attach a bigger screen to Macintosh, and you get a bigger work area that has
more pixels and can display more information.  Attach a bigger screen to an
OS/2 system, and you typically get the same work area, with the same number of
pixels—each just gets bigger.

•  When looking at the File Manager in view by icon mode, there is no difference
between the icon for the application and for the data files that were created
by that application.  For example, the icons for the PageMaker application
program and a document created by PageMaker look identical.  Some app icons
(Excel, Describe) are just boxes with blue on the top.  Others (PageMaker,
PackRat) are the full icons (that look that same as individual documents).



  This is substantiated by InfoCorp’s prediction that OS/2 won’t outsell DOS
until 1997 or 1998.

Runs OfficeVision.  OfficeVision is a set of business productivity tools for
use on OS/2-based PCs, minicomputers, and mainframes.  If a corporation
standardizes on OfficeVision, the fact that it does not run on the Macintosh
could limit Apple’s penetration into that corporation.  However, if
OfficeVision gains acceptance, we would expect Apple and third parties to
develop products connecting Macintosh to OfficeVision.

Can buy color PC compatibles running OS/2 for less than the Macintosh.  PC
Magazine’s recent cover story was on twelve 80386 20-MHz PC compatibles that
had an average retail price of $2,600.  These machines were configured with 2
MB of RAM, a 40 MB hard disk, and VGA display adapter and monitor.  Obviously,
2 MB or more of memory would need to be added to these systems to run OS/2, but
these clones provide good price/performance for OS/2.  The comparable
Macintosh, the IIcx, has a retail price over $4,000 higher than these clones.

•  Support for paging memory instead of segment swapping.  By using paging
memory, OS/2 2.0 never has to move memory blocks to consolidate free memory
space.  This will improve performance of OS/2 applications (regardless of
whether they were written for the 286 or the 386 version of OS/2).


These are some of the reasons for its attractive look:

•  Attractive icons.  Icons in Windows 3.0 are colored and very nicely drawn.

•  3D effect.  Like OS/2 1.2,  Windows 3.0 has shadowing which gives it a 3D
effect.  For example, the buttons look raised, the menus are drop shaded, and
the disk drive icons look 3D.

  Files and folders can now be dragged to other folders to move or copy them.
A file can be launched by dragging it on top of the icon of the application
that created it.

Other enhancements.

•  Context sensitive help.  Windows 3.0 has excellent context sensitive help,
with hotlinks to related subjects.

•  Macro recorder.  Windows 3.0 includes a macro recorder which is similar to
MacroMaker on the Macintosh.

•  Good paint program.  Windows 3.0 comes bundled with Paintbrush, which is much
more sophisticated than the paint program currently bundled with Windows.

Weaknesses.

•  Applications need to be rewritten.  Most applications written for Windows
2.x, such as the current versions of Excel and PageMaker, will not run under
Windows 3.0.  Those applications will need to be upgraded.

  In fact, we would guess that the Macintosh user interface meets many of SAA’s
Common User Access (CUA) specifications.

Macintosh supports multiple monitors.  Attach multiple monitors to a modular
Macintosh, and the system will treat them like a single large monitor—the user
can drag windows between them, move objects back and forth, and so on.  Attach
two monitors to a PC running OS/2, and in most cases one of them will be blank,
or both of them will display the same image.

System 7.0 will keep Macintosh ahead of OS/2.  Macintosh System 7.0 has the
features of OS/2, and yet it is easier to use than OS/2, requires less
hardware, and is compatible with the huge installed base of Macintosh
applications.  System 7.0 should give Macintosh a competitive advantage over PC
compatibles for the foreseeable future.

 We have noted in brackets the OS/2 advantages that System 7.0 nullifies.

the sliders in the scroll bars are proportionately sized, and

We think that DOS will outsell OS/2 for at least five years.  Therefore, we
believe that there will be at least two environments for PC compatibles for a
long time.  See Appendix B for details on IBM/Microsoft’s announcement
positioning Windows and OS/2.

IBM expects device manufacturers to write Presentation Manager drivers for
their own devices.




Macintosh has many advantages over OS/2.  The Macintosh currently has many
advantages over OS/2, most notably lower hardware requirements, greater ease of
use, faster performance, and many more applications.  Macintosh System 7, which
will be available before OS/2 becomes successful, will provide additional
advantages.

System 7.0 will increase the Macintosh operating system’s lead over OS/2.

  For example, the OS/2 2.0 file system will continue to use the 16-bit
addressing scheme of the current version.


•  OS/2 has four different ways to launch an application.  You can double click
on the application file in the File Manager (this is the way you do it on the
Macintosh).  Or you can launch an application from the Desktop Manager (if you
have added that application’s pathname to the menu).  Or you can “Search” for
the application file and double click on its name in the Search window.  Or you
can drag a document on top of the application icon.  This is an example of
OS/2’s tendency to add redundant features (throwing in the kitchen sink) which
often leads to inconsistency among users and developers.

Apple probably will be able to connect Macintosh workgroups to OfficeVision
services, if compatibility with OV becomes a check-off item for customers.  In
fact, in order to lock Apple out of OfficeVision, IBM would have to violate
some of its own SAA guidelines for programming and communications interfaces.
So either Apple can get in easily, or SAA—the centerpiece of IBM’s computing
strategy— is invalid.

Windows 3.0 applications may be able to run under OS/2 in a 16 MB compatibility
box, rather than the current 640 KB compatibility box.    However, this will
still not allow for IPC between the Windows and OS/2 applications.

Rich text format.  OS/2 offers rich text format which extends the capabilities
of text processing and desktop publishing.  Text information that is copied to
the OS/2 clipboard retains its formatting information, such as typeface, style,
and size.  Apple has not defined formats for the Macintosh clipboard to retain
these kinds of information about text.

Apple response:  In System 7, live copy and paste using Inter-Application
Communication will retain rich text format (although the clipboard will not).


Apple response:  Macintosh System 7.0 will support opening files by dragging
them on top of an application.

•  On the Macintosh, you can drag files to trash to delete them.  In OS/2, you
select the file (by clicking on it) and then choose the menu option Delete.





Macintosh OS competitive positioning statement



Ideas we want to communicate (prioritized):

Macintosh has more applications than OS/2 and Windows
Macintosh requires less expensive hardware than OS/2, similar to Windows
Macintosh is easier to learn and use than OS/2 and Windows
Macintosh provides operating system features similar to OS/2, better than
Windows
Macintosh applications run faster than OS/2 and Windows applications


Suggestions for positioning:


“Macintosh is easier to use and provides more applications than OS/2 at a much
lower price.”


“Macintosh provides OS/2-class functionality at a Windows price point.”


Macintosh operating system is BEST

Broad product line—Runs across a broad product line whereas OS/2 and Windows
only run well on high-end machines
Easy—Easier to learn and use than OS/2 and Windows (claims research)
Speedy—Applications run faster than OS/2 and Windows applications (NSTL)
Thousands of consistent applications—More applications than OS/2 and Windows
combined (SPC numbers)


“Macintosh is FASTER than OS/2 and Windows

Full featured—Operating system features similar to OS/2, better than Windows
Applications—More applications than OS/2 and Windows combined (SPC numbers)
Speedy—Applications run faster than OS/2 and Windows applications (NSTL)
Total consistency—Consistent applications and interface
Easy—Easier to learn and use than OS/2 and Windows (claims research)
Runs on low-end hardware—Requires less expensive hardware than OS/2 and
Windows”


Do Implications at front of this document.  Why is this 30 page document
important.  Is it just a lot of facts?



    ----------    Footnotes    ----------

   1.  Optional, through use of third-party software.

   2.  Database access manager and communications toolbox are not included with
OS/2 Standard Edition.  They are included with the $830 OS/2 Extended Edition.

   3.  Standard Apple color board on Macintosh vs. VGA on the PC.  Obviously, this
applies only to color systems.

   4.  Standard on all Macintosh II and SE/30 models.  Extra-cost option from IBM.

   5.  More fully-implemented on Macintosh II models.



    ----------    Posted Notes    ----------

some dialog boxes also don’t close by double clicking on their close box.

  This is substantiated by InfoCorp’s prediction that OS/2 won’t outsell DOS
until 1997 or 1998.