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Brainstorm: What is Next with OS/2 ?

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JTA:
Always interesting to see how folks solve, or don't solve, technical issues at the OS level. If you can come at the problems with an open mind to all possibilities, the range of solutions also opens up.

If you run OS/2 (ArcaOS) directly on hardware, then yes there will be lots of issues, notwithstanding AN's efforts to work through them. You'll get the 4GB ram limit, no selection of modern browsers or other 64-bit software, and so on.

If you run OS/2 in one (or more!) VM's with a 64-bit HostOS (win, linux) controlling the hardware, then you get all the resources of the 64-bit hardware and 64-bit modern OS delivered to OS/2. You'll get 64-bit apps (via Winflector), NTFS or Linux FS's as the filesystem, no driver issues to speak of, and modern OS/2 (ArcaOS) running at near native speed.

Run two VM's, and you start to move past native OS/2 4GB ram limitations with workarounds (two os/2's in vm's offering up to 8GB ram to native os/2 apps).

Modern hardware is inexpensive, and gives us 64-bit cpu's, 16/32/64gb of ram and ssd's. With Virtualbox or similar, you get at all of that. Once the HostOS is in place, you can spend more time doing things with os/2, versus fighting problems, or worse, giving up on os/2.

Spread this message to new developers, and you'll start to build up that core again of development interest. Think of the possibilities of:
- 1 os/2 vm as your daily driver, serving up any 64-bit app, or even local AI, via Winflector
- 1 or 2 other os/2 vm's dedicated to the os/2 compiler environment
- other vm's hosting specific job engines or other specializations
- HostOS providing security, backup, and more to all vm's
- all running on 1 inexpensive laptop/desktop

How hard is this to do? 1.) Grab a spare machine. 2.) Install Windows Pro (or any Linux). 3.) Install Virtualbox and Winflector. 4.) Install ArcaOS in one or more vm's ...

... and get to work doing whatever you want in OS/2, vs fighting problems in OS/2.

Full details are over in the virtualization sub-forum, but really aren't necessary if you are comfortable with the above 4 steps.


Ibrahim Hakeem:
With the amount of software we'd need to port to bring OS/2 to a viable level, I'd be interested to see how much we could leverage AI to do some of the heavy-lifting.

Eugene Gorbunoff:
to JTA:
the idea to put OS/2 into VM host was discussed since 2000, Kim Cheung have spend many efforts to this project:
https://en.os2.guru/projects/reviews/index.php?id=263
(https://ru.os2.guru/projects/reviews/index.php?id=263)

The developers have discussed this in the past.
* yes. this approach is good *for some* users, consumers
* no, this will immediately kill OS/2. no need to develop code for OS/2 if every user can jump to windows/linux and run win/lin application with one click.

So, conlusion: OS/2 is alive while it can run on real hardware, while it's fighting for the life.

JTA:
I'm not sure how much it matters if the "idea" of running os/2 in vm's has been in existence since 2000 ... what comes together right now, in just the past few years, is lots of technology ... new/improved:
- hardware: faster cpu's with more cores, lots of ram, super-fast ssd's ... all on one inexpensive machine
- software: virtualization, winflector

If you use os/2, and want to do more with it than running native, more tools in the toolbox gives us options right now. We can do things that weren't available back then:
- virtualbox lets us run multiple vm's on one machine, introducing new ways to use os/2
- winflector lets us run any 64-bit app right now inside of os/2, vs waiting for that browser to come along, or waiting for that port to finish.
- existing os/2 developers can use these new tools in the toolbox to speed up os/2 development right now
- new os/2 developers aren't running constrained on one box, trying to shoehorn everything into 4gb ram on a 32gb machine ... they can expand immediately into more vm's doing more work for them. If we give them a highly tuned dev vm, they can run two or more, alongside their os/2 desktop vm, compiling in some and testing in others.

And, yes ... consumers (all the rest of us) can explore os/2 among many other os's, which shouldn't necessarily kill off os/2. It might expand the pool of folks who find, play with, and come to love os/2 anew:
- os/2 runs perfectly in a vm, yet runs with all kinds of problems natively ... run it in a vm, and you are instantly in business, alongside all your other efforts, on one machine
- explore all the old os/2 (or dos, or win) apps, and perhaps find new ways to bring them back into production ... if it runs in a vm, it's no longer tied to any new hardware/software that forces many os's or apps into retirement.

I respect folks that want to run native ... please do so, if that is your thing.

But adding more tools to the toolbox shouldn't be a bad thing, because who knows what the next generation of os/2 users will do with them. New users might become new developers.

os/2 might be dead (to me) if I hadn't played with it again in the past few years, discovered new tools to resolve all the current issues in this forum, and gotten it to the point where I have time now to explore all the new things I can now do with it, vs fighting it to resolve all its native problems.

progress should be happening on all fronts ...

Eugene Gorbunoff:
This relates to economics. better tell "housekeeping".

Imagine that OS/2 it's a small village.

you offer import all milk, bread and water from large powerful city located nearby to our small village.
so what will happen? what will happen with the residents of our village?
where the residents will find money to pay for the milk? what they will do without local small factories and farms?

No,
we should generate products by ourselves.
Moreover, OS/2 village is so weak  that it's necessary prohibit relocation to the large city.
(= prohibit usage of vitual machines in OS/2)

Remember, Virtual machines are created by the owners of giant powerful OSes to kill small / legacy / old OSes.

OK, the thread is related to OS/2 Whatsnext.

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