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- OS/2 2.1 HITS RETAIL SHELVES
-
- June 14, 1993
-
- Following four weeks during which telephone orders poured in by
- the thousands, IBM's OS/2* 2.1 became generally available today
- in retail stores throughout the country.
-
- IBM's award-winning 32-bit operating system was announced
- May 18 to critical acclaim for customers looking for a proven,
- reliable, powerful operating system that runs DOS, Windows** and
- OS/2 applications. In addition to being faster and more
- powerful than version 2.0, new features in OS/2 2.1 include
- 32-bit graphics, built-in multimedia function and support for
- Windows 3.1 applications.
-
- At the Egghead Software retail store in Austin, Texas, where
- special promotions are taking place, response has been
- overwhelming, according to store manager Brian Dougherty.
-
- "There was literally a line around the store before we opened,"
- Dougherty said. "OS/2 and OS/2 applications appear to be very
- popular with our customers."
-
- IBM Personal Software Products Director of Marketing Wally
- Casey said, "OS/2 is actually three products in one -- you get
- DOS and Windows in the same box. Today the retail shelves are
- stocked with the only 32-bit Intel system that can run all your
- DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications, and the built-in multimedia
- features make it a fun system to run. It's a product for
- everyone."
-
- While OS/2 is becoming available today for retail customers,
- larger IBM customers are readying their OS/2 implementations.
- Southern California Gas Co. has developed several client/server
- applications in the last two years and chose OS/2 because of its
- preemptive multitasking and industrial strength communications
- capabilities.
-
- "OS/2 2.1 offers our users an easy migration to an advanced
- desktop operating system without having to give up their existing
- applications," said Robert Holmes, research analyst for Southern
- California Gas. "Our developers get an excellent development
- environment with advanced features like the WorkPlace Shell,
- which gives users and developers the capability to organize their
- work in a natural way."
-
- Customers have been able to order OS/2 2.1 by calling
- 1-800-3IBM-OS2. The list price is $249, with a 90-day
- promotional offering of $99 for CD-ROM and $119 for diskettes
- starting today for users ordering upgrades. In addition, users
- who upgrade from previous versions of OS/2 can receive a $30
- rebate. In retail stores, OS/2 2.1 is expected to be available
- at an even lower cost to users.
-
- OS/2 momentum has been building since the introduction of
- Version 2.0 14 months ago. Since that time more than 2 million
- copies have been shipped and more than 1,300 industry
- applications have been delivered. In response to customer
- demand, major vendors such as Computer Associates, Information
- Builders Inc., Lotus Development Corp. and WordPerfect Corp. are
- releasing 32-bit OS/2 versions of their products, and hardware
- vendors such as AST, UNISYS and Northgate are pre-loading OS/2
- on their machines.
-
-
- * Indicates trademark or registered trademark of the
- International Business Machines Corporation.
-
- ** Indicates trademark or registered trademark of Microsoft
- Corporation.
-