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On OS choice

Started by lwriemen, 2008.02.06, 15:23:23

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lwriemen

Quote from: BigWarpGuy on 2008.02.07, 16:56:29
Quote from: lwriemen on 2008.02.07, 16:50:24
Quote from: BigWarpGuy on 2008.02.06, 20:49:02
I have not tried all of them but there are other operating systems out there besides Windows.

You're missing the point. Sure there are hundreds (probably thousands) of operating systems out there, but how many offer a comparable level of application and device driver support to Windows? The answer is zero. This means that a lot of the time choice is limited to Windows. Mac and Linux have gained some ground recently, but their market share still isn't as attractive as Windows to ISVs.

Back when there was competition in the home computer market, you might not have been able to run every application on every system, but each system had a more or less comparable level of application and device driver support. Some people try to point to the incompatibilities between the diverse platforms as a reason why Windows' dominanace is a good thing, but they fail to learn from history where suppliers have pushed for common interfaces to scale down their own costs. This was happening before Microsoft gained monopoly dominance and would have worked itself out without stifling innovation in operating system development.

If you are talking about WinXP, this might be true. I have read that isn't necessarily true of Win Vista. So many have not upgraded or bought Vista because device drivers for what they are using is not available or programs are not compatible with Vista like they are with XP.

When you buy a complete computer system (desktop or notebook computer), the only real choice (good or bad) is Win. Up until recently where some companies are offereing Linux, one would have install any other operating system oneself. There was no real choice. This is why when they say PC they mean Win.
I guess I'm not making myself very clear.  :(

I'm talking about any current Windows since about 1996. I believe that's when choice finally died in the home computing marketplace. One could argue 1994 as the year, since Commodore and Atari had quit making PCs by then, and OS/2's installer was being found to be unfriendly to a large number of home users. 1996 was probably the last year that OS/2 could be considered a competitor for the home market.

Since 1996, we have seen some small waves of OSes targeted at the home market (like BeOS) crash against the Microsoft applications barrier to entry. Us OS/2 users got lucky with the release of eComStation, but we haven't increased our market share. Apple is experiencing one of their up cycles, but if history is an indicator, they'll shrink again. Linux has cut out a nice niche, but without further government remedy to Microsoft's monopoly, it will eventually plateau at no more than 20% and then decline.

It took government remedy to break IBM's monopoly. Without that remedy, Microsoft probably never would have existed, and OS/2 might have never come to pass. The PC would probably have run some existing IBM OS that couldn't really compete with Commodore, Atari, Apple, etc. in user interface, but would dominate due to lock-in in the business arena.

lwriemen

Quote from: kimhav on 2008.02.06, 22:37:49
Agree with Thomas, there are plenty of OS for what ever purpose that is needed to be done. But, then again it's really hard to replace the OS2 WPS and by that, if I could get the WPS on any other platform - I would use it.

The WPS on any other platform wouldn't be OS/2. It would be interesting to see, but I think people here underestimate the performance of OS/2 and what it adds to the computing experience that is represented to the user by PMShell (remember that part?) with WPS.

Maybe this should be WPS World.  :D

BigWarpGuy

My first computer was a TI-99/4A. It ran TI-DOS. I still have a couple of them but I dobt they still work. There was a variety of computers each with its own operating system. I remember Computer Shopper being a huge magazine that covered all the different systems. Now Computer Shopper covers mostly WinPC's and it is a fraction of the size it used to be. As time went on, the computers narrowed down to just IBM compatible computers and Apple computers. My first IBM compatible computer was a Tandy 3000 and it did not have a hard drive. I have used Win3.1 but did not care for it. It crashed too often. I wanted Win95 when Win98 came out but MS never reduced the price but just took it off the shelf. I switched to OS/2 Warp ver 3 and liked it ever since. Now I am at eCS 1.2r and looking forward to eCS 2.0.

When it comes to an os that is pre-installed on newer computers, it is usually Win or Apple with some offering Linux. It would be nice if eCS was a choice when buying a new computer.

Saijin_Naib

The price of eCS is really preventative, IMO. It would have to be lowered, and furthermore, the hardware support under eCS will have to be MUCH improved. ACPI issues, displays not supporting their native resolution, no sound, etc are simply NOT acceptable for an end user, especially with a computer they expect to get working out of the box. eCS is not ready for the prime time, not yet.

lwriemen

Quote from: Saijin_Naib on 2008.02.07, 23:34:37
The price of eCS is really preventative, IMO. It would have to be lowered, and furthermore, the hardware support under eCS will have to be MUCH improved. ACPI issues, displays not supporting their native resolution, no sound, etc are simply NOT acceptable for an end user, especially with a computer they expect to get working out of the box. eCS is not ready for the prime time, not yet.

Serenity Systems doesn't have much room to move on the price of eCS. They still have to include the price of OS/2 they pay to IBM. If IBM made OS/2 free, then the price of eCS could be reduced. The other option is Voyager, at which point eCS is no longer OS/2, but SS can then play with the price more.

If Voyager wants to flourish, it needs to be something that can compete with KDE and Gnome. It would probably also have to show some improvement to draw enough developers.