Databook for OS/2 – Chapter 1 – What is an Operating System and why is it Important?

By David Both from Databook for OS/2

The operating system you use on your computer is as important—or more so—than the hardware you run it on. This chapter of the DataBook for OS/2 discusses operating systems, why they are important, and why—at the time this was originally written—OS/2 was the best choice.

This chapter starts with a brief discussion of what OS/2 Warp really is, then proceeds with a brief introduction to the concepts, functions, and purposes of operating systems. It covers the basic tasks which an operating system performs.

This section also shows why the operating system of your computer is important to you. The importance of multitasking is covered and how multitasking enables you to use your computer more effectively. The different operating systems on the market today are discussed along with brief comparisons of OS/2, DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT. Which of today’s operating systems are appropriate for business and which ones are appropriate for small business and home use are also discussed.

Scalability is extremely important; running the same operating system from laptops to servers can make life much simpler for the network administrator or the IS manager. Warp is the only operating system on the market today which can provide that level of scalability.

A short discussion of the history and versions of OS/2 is also included in this chapter.

Forward
I started writing this DataBook as a database for my own use in my consulting business, Millennium Technology, Inc. Over a period of time, I realized that my customers could use much of the data I had collected in my database. As it became clear that I could provide this data as a value-add to my current customers, it also became apparent that many others could benefit from this information as well.

At first, I intended to write a book and have one of the mainstream book publishers publish it. Well not many of them seem to be interested in Warp these days. Most of the “real” book publishers seem to have jumped on the Windows bandwagon.

With that problem staring me in the face, and since I have been creating the database anyway, and since I was going to make it available on the internet to my own customers, I decided to make it generally available for a one time access fee. I was also encouraged in my efforts by some of the good folks at (the now defunct) Indelible Blue, Inc. who told me that many of their customers are looking for information about Warp. Unfortunately IB has had no recommendations for books about Warp, especially Warp Server and Warp 4.

It is my hope that the $50 fee will be low enough to attract those who really need access to this type of data – along with the fact that the DataBook will never be out of date. As new Warp products are released by IBM, this DataBook will be updated to include them. The intent of the DataBook for OS/2 Warp is to provide information about all versions of IBM’s OS/2 Warp – to fill the gap which exists since the hardcopy book publishers don’t seem interested in the OS/2 Warp community.

Perhaps the DataBook and its kindred will soon be the “real” books and paper books will be the exception.

Warp Products Covered by the DataBook For OS/2
The DataBook for OS/2 Warp covers the following Warp products:
 * Warp 3
 * Warp 4
 * Warp Connect
 * Warp Server
 * WorkSpace on Demand
 * Warp Server for e-business

OS/2 Books Reference
These are the books I have found most useful in working with OS/2 Warp over the years. Combined, they cover much of the material that I had included in the old DataBook® for OS/2.

Obtaining these books may be somewhat problematic these days, but there are still a few around. I do have several copies of “Inside OS/2 Warp”.

Technology in Today’s Business
Computers are being used in almost every business today, both large and small. Small businesses especially find computers essential. One estimate places over 25.8 million computers in home offices alone, assuming only one computer per office. Most small offices have one or more computers. With more than 21 million small businesses in the United States today, the number of personal computers in use in the small office home office (SOHO) environment is probably between 50 million and 75 million.

The term “small business” is defined differently by many people and the definition even varies between industries. Virtually all definitions of small business, however, include more than 99.9% of all the business entities in America. With only certain exceptions, the same is true for most of the rest of the world.

Computers are supposed to increase our productivity and make us work more efficiently. But no one has really told us how to do that. At least they haven’t told those of us in small businesses. Paul and Sarah Edwards, in Working From Home (Putnam, 1994) consider a computer as essential as a telephone for the home office. Neither the Edwards’ books, as good as they are, nor any of the other books for small businesses discuss computers other than to tell you that you need one and to provide a very short discussion of some of the terms you need to know and a list of some components you might buy. Most books for small businesses make little or no effort to provide you with any guidance about the kinds of decisions you should be making.

Computers – A Competitive Advantage
Many business, both large and small, use computers today to perform many tasks necessary to the daily conduct of their operations. These tasks range from “simple” accounting chores, to graphics design, word processing, E-mail, fax and other electronic communications, knowledge or information storage and retrieval, financial analysis, and untold others. The list is as long as the number of people using computers in their businesses.

For the savvy business person, the computer can be a weapon to use against the competition. Intelligent application of computer technology in today’s business environment can mean the difference between mere survival and growing your business; between being one of the pack and being the leader of the pack. Appropriate use of computer technology can make your business more competitive. This is true for the very largest businesses as well as the very smallest, and for all of those which fall in between.

Since so many business people are already using computers, you might wonder how you can use computer technology in a way which might be different from everyone else and provide you with that competitive edge. At least part of the answer lies in using your existing or new computer technology to its fullest extent rather than wasting much of the power you paid for. In the next section we will look at a typical example of how most people use their computers today so that you can see what I mean.

Wasted Computing Power
Most of the computing power you have in your office is wasted. Your computers just do not have enough to do to keep them busy even a tiny fraction of the time.

Most computer users do at least some word processing, but this example could apply to accounting, database, spreadsheet, and many other types of applications as well. Let’s assume that our user has a fairly typical computer system – a 33 MHz 80486 processor with 8 MB of RAM and a 500 MB hard drive – and that he or she is a pretty good typist – say 75 words per minute.

Note: This “typical computer” is becoming less and less typical every day as faster Pentium and Pentium Pro systems replace the slower 80486 systems. However I choose to continue using this system for my example, because faster computers waste even more CPU cycles and time. A nice, slow computer provides a good foundation for the rest of this proposition.

Let’s look more closely at a couple of things before we go further with this scenario. You have seen the specification before, for a 33 MHz 80486 processor in this system. But what exactly does that mean? This specification is a measure of the processing power of the brain of the computer. 80486 defines the type of Intel processor chip installed in the computer, and 33 MHz represents the number of clock cycles per second and defines how fast that chip runs. The 80486 computer chip is capable of processing one computer instruction every 4 to 7 clock cycles. Therefore, a 33 MHz 80486 – at 33,000,000 clock cycles per second – should be capable of executing approximately 6,000,000 instructions every second.

Our typist can type about 75 words per minute and it takes about 1500 processor instructions to process each keystroke. If we assume an average of 6 characters per word, we get 6 characters x 75 words per minute / 60 seconds per minute = 7.5 characters per second. And 7.5 characters per second x 1500 instructions per character = 11,250 instructions per second are used to type this document. That leaves 5,988,750 instructions available for use each second which have been wasted. Over 99.8% of the available processing power in this computer has been wasted because the computer simply sits there waiting for the user to press the next key. One way to increase the efficiency of our computer technology is to use those otherwise wasted clock cycles.

All of these wasted clock cycles are not the fault of your hardware, rather they are caused by the fact that DOS was designed in such a manner that it can only perform one task at a time. DOS was designed this way because the original IBM PC, back in 1981, was developed using some invalid assumptions. One of those assumptions was that the PC would be used in a single-tasking environment; that is, it would be turned on at the beginning of the day, run one program all day, and then it would be turned off at night. If the PC was on the desk of an accountant, it would run an accounting application all day long. If it were on the desk of a financial analyst, it would run a spreadsheet. If this PC were on the desk of a secretary, it would run a word processor all day long. There was no basis in these assumptions to provide a multitasking capability – that is the capability to run more than one program at a time.

Why Multitasking?
The Need for Multitasking

When many of us who purchased our first PC back in 1981 or 1982 began to use them, we immediately discovered that we needed the ability to run multiple programs at the same time. For example, within a week of taking delivery of my first PC, I was writing a letter on it. During the course of this letter, I needed to make an arithmetic calculation. I did not have a calculator, but I did have this $5,000 computer; unfortunately I could not use it to do the calculation without some time-consuming procedures. I had to go through the following steps to make a calculation and get it into my document.
 * Save my document
 * Exit from the word processor
 * Insert a diskette with a calculator program
 * Start the calculator program
 * Make the calculations
 * Write down the result
 * Exit the calculator program
 * Insert the word processing diskette
 * Restart the word processor
 * Load the document on which I was working
 * Find my place in the document
 * Type in the number

Because so many early adopters of the PC encountered this same problem, companies like Borland created programs such as Sidekick which would load and remain silent and unused in memory while other programs – such as word processors – did the work required of it. When you needed a calculator, a calendar, a schedule, or so on, you pressed a couple keys and the desired utility program appeared on the screen, ready for use. Programs like Sidekick are called Terminate and Stay Resident programs, or TSRs. So, immediately after the original IBM PC became available back in 1981, people were already trying to overcome the intrinsic single tasking nature of DOS.

One way to make your computer more efficient is to put to use as many of those wasted CPU cycles as you can. That means that you need to add true multitasking to your computer. Multitasking also makes you more efficient because you can have the programs you need available when you need them. There are currently a number of operating systems which you can use and which will give you some form of multitasking.

Multitasking in Windows 3.1
Windows 3.1 attempted to provide multitasking so that you could do more than one task at a time, but it is very limited in its capability, partially because it is still based on DOS. Windows 3.1 uses a type of multitasking called cooperative multitasking. In this type of multitasking, each application has to be willing to cooperate with other applications and surrender the processor to another program so that it can have some processor time.

With this type of environment, in which the end user has to rely upon the good intentions of all of the programmers who wrote the programs which are currently running on his or her computer, there is much reason for concern. A single program which refuses to yield the processor can cause everything else in the computer to come to a screeching halt. You can demonstrate this by starting any program on a Windows 3.1 system which will perform a task for a period of time – say printing from a word processor, or downloading a large file from an electronic BBS – then insert a diskette and format it. Whatever else you have started will come to an almost complete stop while the diskette is being formatted. Programs which do not work well together can also cause General Protection Faults (GPFs) and crash the entire system.

Multitasking in Windows 95
Windows 95 moves a tiny step closer to true multitasking, but it is still based in large part upon DOS and Windows 3.1, and suffers greatly from that limitation. Programs written specifically for Windows 95 cannot even be multitasked among themselves without cooperative multitasking, however, and when legacy Windows 3.1 programs are used alongside the Windows 95 programs, a single recalcitrant legacy application can cause the entire system to crash.

Even when using only those applications written especially for it, Windows 95 performs a significant amount of cooperative multitasking. This is because so much of Windows 95 is really Windows 3.1, and is therefore fundamentally cooperative multitasking in nature. A GPF caused by a Windows 3.1 program can still cause the entire Windows 95 system to crash.

Multitasking in Windows NT
The multitasking in Windows NT is very much like that of OS/2. The reason for that is very simple: Windows NT started life as OS/2. Back when Microsoft was responsible for creating OS/2 under contract to IBM, Windows NT was being developed as OS/2 3.0. When IBM and Microsoft split up over the relative directions of Windows and OS/2, IBM took over complete responsibility for development of OS/2 2.0, and Microsoft continued to work on what was then being called OS/2 3.0. Later on, as the rift between IBM and Microsoft grew, Microsoft renamed OS/2 3.0 as Windows NT, and IBM began development of its own version of OS/2 3.0, which became OS/2 Warp.

As a result, Windows NT has very good multitasking characteristics. However, there are other reasons why Windows NT does not make a good operating system for many businesses. Windows NT is most suitable for large businesses with some very specific networking and security needs. It requires nearly double the RAM resources of OS/2 to run well and requires significantly more disk space to install.

Windows NT is also slower and less capable than Warp Server as a file and print server. The following excerpts from an IBM press release show why.

PC Week Labs Tests Performance of Leading PC Server Operating Systems

AUSTIN, Texas, April 10, 1996. . . Results of an independent test conducted by PC Week Labs show that OS/2 Warp Server running on a single processor outperforms both Microsoft Windows NT Server and Novell Netware 4.1 running on four-way SMP- (symmetric- multiprocessing) equipped servers.

“We are very pleased with the results of this test, especially considering the fact that Windows NT was running on a server with four 133MHz Pentium processors and Warp Server was running on a uniprocessor machine,” said Art Olbert, director of product plan management, IBM Personal Software Products. “Our own tests have shown a 14 percent improvement in file and print performance in OS/2 Warp Server Version 4 over LAN Server 4.0. That means we have improved performance for our current customers and we have also beaten the competition.”

According to the tests, OS/2 Warp Server had a peak performance of 56M bps (mega-bits per second), outperforming Windows NT Server by up to 26 percent in file and print services. Windows NT Server performed at a maximum of 44 M bps, while Netware 4.1 placed last. The testing was conducted with Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation’s newly released NetBench 4.01, with file and print services running on a 100M bps Fast Ethernet network.

“The results of this test are very impressive, but then again, I’ve always been impressed with the performance of IBM’s LAN Server,” said John Robinson, systems manager, South Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation. “And as we roll out the new OS/2 Warp Server, I’ve seen a significant improvement in file and print services.”

To view the complete article printed by PC Week, link to the PCWeek Warp Server Comparison. Note: This page is no longer available.

Multitasking in OS/2 Warp
OS/2 Warp is the only operating system for the desktop computer which was designed from the ground up as a true multitasking operating system. OS/2 relies completely upon itself for multitasking. It is in control of all applications running under it, even those which were not designed for multitasking. OS/2 will preempt any program which takes a predefined maximum amount of time and allow other programs access to the processor. OS/2 controls multitasking, not the application programs.

Here is what OS/2 Warp does for me. I do a lot of my work on a five year old computer – an IBM P75, 80486, 33 MHz system with 16 MB of RAM and a 400 MB hard drive. I also have a 1.2 GB external hard drive, a CD-ROM, a rewritable optical drive, and two 14,400 external Fax/Modems. This system is not state of the art, and it is not nearly as fast as most systems available today, but does have a lot of disk capacity. The hardware RAM capacity is maximized at 16 MB and cannot be increased further.

When I turn on my computer in the morning, OS/2 boots up and I start my personal information manager (PIM). This PIM consists of a clock/calendar with alarms, an appointment book, a to-do list, a phone book, a contact list, and a very flexible note pad. I also start my fax software which allows me to send and receive faxes while I work on other things. Since much of my day is spent writing, my word processor is usually the next application I start. I like to connect to the internet or CompuServe to check my E-mail and search for news and files of interest.

On one typical day recently, I was working on an article using DeScribe for OS/2 as a fax started to come in. FaxWorks OS/2 responded and accepted the fax. I started to print the document on which I had been working. I needed to send a message on CompuServe so I composed the message off line using Golden CommPass for OS/2. I sent the message while the print job was being sent to the printer and the fax was still coming in. While it was connected to CompuServe, Golden CommPass searched my favorite forums for new messages and downloaded the titles so I could select the ones I wanted to read at a later time. And while all of this was taking place, IBM AntiVirus/2, which is timed to scan my system for viruses every Friday at 4:00 PM, started up automatically and did so – without affecting anything else in progress.

This was admittedly a somewhat busier time for my computer than usual, but it does illustrate the potential of OS/2 to allow me to do everything I need to do without being hampered by limitations imposed on my computer by old operating system technology. It also shows that older, somewhat limited computer systems can have an extended life when OS/2 Warp is added to them. OS/2 Warp can do the same for you and your computer. The rest of this book shows you how.

Note: This example was written before I had purchased a couple new computers, but it serves to illustrate the capabilities of Warp quite well. My new computers are faster and more powerful, but I have them doing the jobs of Warp Server and Lotus Notes Server, along with the Notes Domino Server which feeds this DataBook to the World Wide Web.

Computer-Centric Strategies for Enhancing Productivity
Increasing productivity is usually viewed as a human-centric activity. Most businesses think in terms of increasing the productivity of people. Government statistics even measure productivity in terms of units of work per capita of the workforce. No wonder we think in terms of increasing the productivity of our workers. The term “workers”, as used by many large corporations today, tends to dehumanize the people who are doing the work; they become just another tool whose output is measured in units of work per tool.

The reality is, that in these days of corporate downsizing and lean staffs, most people are already doing about as much as they can. They are working harder, working smarter, putting in more hours, and using computers and other office technology to do more than they ever have before. Productivity in the U.S. continues to rise, although very slowly. The U.S. is already one of the most productive countries in the world. A new approach is needed if productivity is going to increase significantly. It is time to start thinking in terms of increasing the productivity of the tools used in todays business office.

The last really significant productivity increase in the office was in 1981 when the original IBM PC was introduced. Within a very short period of time, many offices, both large and small, had added a PC to do some specific task. Over time, many of those PCs began to be used for additional tasks. As each task was added to the PC’s workload, the user, after an initial period of learning, became more productive at those tasks.

Use of the most powerful tools available is key to increasing the productivity of your computers. Warp – in all its incarnations as a stand-alone, as a client, and as a server – is the most powerful tool you can have on your computer.

SETI@Home – A Perfect Example of Multitasking
SETI@Home is a current (as of July 2000) project that illustrates the ideal use for multitasking. It also serves to illustrate how much CPU power is wasted every day, and how the Internet can be harnessed to provide huge amounts of computing power for application to certain tasks.

SETI@Home
SETI@home is a scientific experiment begun in early 1999 that harnesses the power of hundreds of thousands of Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Anyone with a computer that has access to the Internet can participate by running a program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. There is also a small but real possibility that your computer will detect the faint murmur of a civilization beyond Earth for which you could get credit as a co-discoverer.

The Project
The SETI@Home project was developed by scientists at the University of California at Berkeley. It is an attempt to locate radio emissions of intelligent beings that might be located on other planets.

The problem is that for two years, beginning in early 1999, they will be receiving data from the radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. About 35 GB of data is generated each day. The processing needed to fully analyze this data amounts to over 36,000,000,000,000,000 calculations for the data of a single day. The Berkeley folks simply did not have the required computing power on hand nor the money to purchase it.

They came up with the idea of splitting the data into small packets that they call “work units” and sending them to computers on the Internet. Each computer could analyze one small packet of about 107 seconds worth of data at a time and then send the results back to UCB. Using thousands or even hundreds of thousands of computers at a time to analyze the data would actually create the largest virtual computer ever assembled to perform a single task.

The result of this is the software called SETI@Home. It runs on many different platforms including various flavors of Unix, Linux, OS/2 Warp, BEOS, Windows 95/98/NT, and Mac.

As I write this, there are 802,849 users participating in this project. Many, like me, use multiple computers so as to be able to process multiple work units simultaneously. At this time, over 25,000 years of CPU time has been donated to this project.

How it Works
The SETI@Home software is designed to run in the background, or as a screen saver. On Windows (all versions) systems it runs primarily as a screen saver but it can also run as a background process. On other platforms, including OS/2, it runs as a background process and only takes up those CPU cycles that are not being used by other tasks or processes.

The client software which runs on your computer contacts the server and is sent a work unit. The client software processes the data in the work unit and sends the result back to the server at Berkeley. Processing can take from a few hours to a three or four days per work unit, depending upon the speed of the client computer.

This is an outstanding use of the multitasking capabilities of many computers to achieve a result that would overwhelm a single computer, or for which a more powerful single computer cannot be made available due to resource constraints. By using the multitasking capabilities of operating systems like OS/2, this huge scientific task can be accomplished with little or no impact to the users on whose computers the program is run.

Note that on the Intel platform, the OS/2 Warp systems seem to have one of the best average times to complete each work unit. Additional Information

For more specific information about the project and how it works, link to the Berkeley SETI@Home web site.

What is OS/2 Warp?
This section describes OS/2 Warp, its features and functions. This section also contains my Short History of OS/2 as well as a bit about the future of OS/2.

Introducing OS/2 Warp
OS/2 Warp is IBM’s premier 32-bit operating system for personal computers. It is the most widely used 32 bit operating system on the market today. Windows 95 is NOT a 32 bit operating system because it is mostly composed of 16 bit executable code; only small portions of Windows 95 are 32 bit. While Windows NT is a true 32 bit operating system, it is at least five years behind OS/2 technically.

There are many rumors floating around about the imminent demise of OS/2. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the death of OS/2 are greatly exagerated. The reason OS/2 will be with us for a long time and will continue to grow and improve is simple – money. IBM generated revenues of over $60 billion in 1995. Companies accounting for $48 billion of that revenue depend upon OS/2. Case closed.

Warp is a Winner
The old adage “You can’t judge a book by its cover,” applies to Warp 4. It has an excellent visual and verbal interface. Underneath the simplicity of its cover, Warp 4 is the most powerful and connected environment on the market today.

OS/2 does live up to the crash protection claims which IBM makes for it. Although it is not crash-proof, OS/2 is a very solid platform which gets better with each release. As a universal client it provides unparalleled connectivity options for any environment.

The voice recognition capability built into Warp 4 is sexy and can be very useful in some situations. I have found very few businesses that use voice recognition, perhaps because they don’t know the power of this incredible feature.

Warp 4 is a sure bet for businesses which have earlier versions of OS/2. Those who have not tried it should.

Warp Features
OS/2 Warp 4 has a large number of powerful features, many of which cannot be found in any other operating system.
 * Crash Protection for business-critical applications.
 * True preemptive multitasking with multithreading for user productivity and fuller, more efficient use of expensive computer resources.
 * Graphical User Interface which is highly configurable for maximum ease of use and flexibility.
 * WarpCenter for easy access to important functions.
 * Run most DOS and Windows 3.1 applications along with true OS/2 applications.
 * Data can be freely exchanged between DOS, Windows, and OS/2 programs – without sacrificing system stability.
 * Connect to anything, anywhere with a universal network client which allows simultaneous connectivity to LAN Server, Warp Server, Windows NT Server, Novell Netware, Netware Directory Services, PCLAN Program, IPX-SPX, LANtastic for DOS or OS/2, Warp Connect, Windows NT Workstation, Windows 95, Windows for Workgroups, TCP/IP (including DHCP, DDNS, FTP, TFTP, Telnet, SLIP, PPP, SMTP, and SNMP), SNA, NetBIOS.
 * Java is built into Warp 4 so you need no additional software to run powerful and easy Java applications locally or right from the World Wide Web.
 * VoiceType speech recognition makes Warp 4 the only operating system in the world to allow voice navigation and dictation with no additional software.
 * WarpGuides to provide intelligent self-configurable guidance for common tasks. Ideal for new users or users new to OS/2.
 * Internet aware desktop allows one-click access to your favorite web sites.
 * TME 10 Netfinity (SystemView) for exceptional systems management, including DMI support.
 * Remote Access Services (LAN Distance) for remote access capabilities which allow you to access your network from home or the road. Remote Access Services can also allow ad hoc WAN configuration for temporary or emergency use.
 * Mobile Office Services allows the Road Warrior to keep files synchronized with the office.

In addition, many extra programs are provided free, either in the BonusPak or separately.


 * Lotus Notes Mail
 * IBM Works gives you a set of full function applications for word processing, spreadsheets, charting, data filing, and report writing.
 * FaxWorks Lite allows you to receive and send faxes. The Warp 4 BonusPak version also includes an answering machine capability.
 * CompuServe Information Manager for OS/2.
 * HyperACESS Lite for OS/2 gives you access to the world of electronic BBS services.
 * AasPSP is an on-line help desk with answers to many requently asked questions.

Many large corporations and organizations have standardized on OS/2 because it is robust, full-featured, and highly reliable. The next section tells you who is using OS/2 Warp and why.

Warp Server
The Warp family of products includes the most sophisticated and best-performing server on the market today. Warp Server integrates all of the legacy network environments a business might have, and provides incredible performance as well.

OS/2 Warp Server, which I have been using since its release in February of 1996 is IBM’s business server solution for customers ranging from small businesses to large enterprises. It provides a powerful foundation for application serving, file and print sharing, and a wealth of integrated features including systems management, backup and recovery, remote access, enhanced TCP/IP support, advanced print function and LAN Internet access.

WARP Server Features
OS/2 Warp Server delivers an integrated platform for the emerging application server environment as well as a complete set of traditional file and print services. Warp Server provides an integrated packaging of OS/2 Warp, LAN Server 4.0 (with some enhancements and fixes), SystemView for OS/2, remote access, advanced backup disaster and recovery, and a new printing capability that allows, among other things, printing postscript files on non-postscript printers.

Because OS/2 Warp Server is based on OS/2 Warp, it possesses the same 32-bit, preemptive multitasking capabilities of Warp. It offers reliable crash protection, runs OS/2 and DOS applications and contains IBM’s own WIN-OS2, which provides support for 16- and 32-bit Windows applications.

File and Print Services
OS/2 Warp Server provides an easy-to-use, graphical, drag-and-drop administration model. This model enables network administrators and resellers to quickly install, set up, configure, and manage a network. It offers tight security that is flexible enough to be customized to the needs of any business by assigning various privileges down to specific files on the server. Warp Server provides protocol stacks for NETBIOS, TCP/IP, IPX-SPX, and TCPBEUI.

OS/2 Warp Server also uses the powerful High Performance File System (HPFS) and Warp Server Advanced offers the HPFS386 file system which provides even faster performance for file servers, local security on the server, and fault tolerance. HPFS also saves disk space.

Advanced Systems Management
OS/2 Warp Server contains systems management features that ensure a high degree of performance and reliability. With OS/2 Warp Server, administrators can remotely manage computers across the network. This enables them to quickly address network issues by monitoring or through remote control of any computer on a LAN without leaving their desks. Alerts built into OS/2 Warp Server warn administrators of predictive hardware failures such as low disk space and exceeding the CPU threshold.

Remote Access
OS/2 Warp Server features a full set of remote access capabilities. With OS/2 Warp Server, organizations ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations can now quickly access vital information via this integrated remote functionality. Ad hoc networks between two standalone computers can be set up, as well as LAN to LAN connections. Road Warriors now have access to the corporate network from any location with a telephone.

Advanced Print Function
Printing over the network is an important task for organizations of all sizes. OS/2 Warp Server includes new printing enhancements that enables users to send postscript documents to non-postscript printers such as Hewlett-Packard and LexMark. OS/2 Warp Server’s advanced printer functionality is also compatible with high speed host printers in a mainframe connected environment.

Client Support
OS/2 Warp Server supports all popular network clients, including OS/2 Warp and OS/2 Warp Connect, DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows NT and Macintosh. OS/2 Warp Server also supports gateway functionality to NetWare and Microsoft servers by allowing OS/2 Warp Server clients to access non-OS/2 Warp Server resources. LAN Server for Macintosh is also available as an additional product.

Note: The Macintosh client and LAN Server for Macintosh (LSM) are NOT shipped with Warp Server.

Warp Server Performance
Warp Server’s performance is outstanding. An independent test conducted by PC Week Labs shows that OS/2 Warp Server running on a single processor outperforms both Microsoft Windows NT Server and Novell Netware 4.1 running on four-way SMP (symmetric-multiprocessing) equipped servers. Tests show OS/2 Warp Server running on a single processor system had a peak performance of 56M bps (megabits per second), outperforming Windows NT Server by up to 26 percent in file and print services. Windows NT Server running on a four way SMP system performed at a maximum of 44 Mbps, while Netware 4.1 placed last. The testing was conducted with Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation’s newly released NetBench 4.01, with file and print services running on a 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet network.

SMP Feature for OS/2 Warp Server Advanced
OS/2 Warp Server Advanced with SMP outperforms Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51 by more than 25 percent in capacity. OS/2 Symmetric-multiprocessing provides support for more users by allowing software servers to exploit multiple processors with the same server software installed. The SMP feature for OS/2 Warp Server Advanced is optimized for 2-way and 4-way SMP systems, the dominant SMP platforms today, but has the ability to support up to 64 processors – far more than any other SMP offering in the market. Ziff-Davis Labs observed a 90 percent improvement in throughput when adding one processor, and a 300 percent improvement when adding three processors. This scalability is significantly better than that of Windows NT. The SMP feature not only supports 32-bit SMP-enabled applications, but also offers increased performance for non-SMP applications.

Warp Server for e-business (Aurora) – 1999
This new version of Warp Server (Code name Aurora) called Warp Server for e-business, will become available in early 1999. It will have a number of new and very interesting features. Warp Server for e-business uses the object oriented user interface (OOUI) of Warp 4 for its user interface.
 * Full Y2K compliance out of the box. Previous versions of Warp are Y2K compliant after installation of fixpacks.
 * Support for Eurocurrency.
 * A graphical interface for defining and managing National Language Support (NLS) Locales. A Locale is usually a country.
 * Netscape Communicator 4.04.
 * Lotus Domino Go Server for hosting web sites.
 * WebSphere Application Server 1.1.
 * NT Server Management. This will allow management of NT domains and servers from an OS/2 system including the ability to keep OS/2 and NT accounts synchronized. Users will be able to log on once and have access to both OS/2 and NT server resources.
 * I2O support. Intelligent I/O means that so long as a device supports I2O there will be no need to wait for the vendor to provide an OS/2 version of the device driver.
 * SMP support.
 * Network File System (NFS) for sharing files across networks.
 * Logical Volume Management will allow users to create logical volumes that are not location dependent. For example a user can create a D: drive and weeks or months later move it to a different physical hard drive and still refer to it as D:. LVM also allows logical volumes to span multiple physical disk drives and gives users the ability to expand the size of a logical volume on the fly – without rebooting the system.
 * The Journaling File System (JFS) provides faster performance, higher disk capacity, improved scalability, and faster recoverability.

OS/2 Awards
OS/2 has won more awards than any other operating system. In fact, it has won many awards more than once.

On March 26, 1996, InfoWorld announced that its readers had selected IBM’s OS/2 as the Overall Readers’ Choice Product of the Year for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year. OS/2 Warp Connect also took the prize for best client product of the year, topping Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT Workstation.

“OS/2 is the only product in the history of our Product of the Year Awards to win four consecutive years,” said Stephen Moylan, vice president and publisher of InfoWorld, a leading IS newsweekly that focuses on editorial coverage of client/server products used in corporate enterprises. “This is an extremely competitive category and OS/2′s continued domination of the top spot year after year is truly amazing.”

Note: Although InfoWorld acknowledges the fact that OS/2 has won the 1997 Reader’s Chioce Awards in three categories by a margin of six to one, they have invalidated the results due to what they term, “OS/2 Zealots…stuffing the ballot box”. They commissioned another survey which, of course, returned results of which they approved.

This is a partial list of the awards won by OS/2 2.x, OS/2 Warp 3, Warp Connect, Warp 4, and Warp Server. It does not include any awards won by OS/2 1.x. Note: (Hot Pick Award) – The InfoWorld Test Center “Hot Picks are products that stand out in technical achievement or are by far the best of class.” (InfoWorld, 14Nov94)

A Short History of OS/2
It is important to understand a little of the history of OS/2 to understand where we are today in the operating system arena, particularly with OS/2. A historical perspective is also prerequisite to understanding the differences between and similarities among the operating systems and environments available today.

In the Beginning DOS – 1981
In 1981 when the original IBM Personal Computer was announced, IBM released three operating systems for it. How many of you remember that? Since I wrote the first IBM course on how to fix this original PC, I had to know at least a little about all three of them.

IBM decided early in the development process of the PC that they did not want to hire a bunch of programmers to write software for it – especially an operating system. IBM wanted the hardware business and did not care about the software. Since there was no clear-cut contender for an operating system at the time, IBM approached three organizations about writing one for the PC.

IBM first approached Digital Research and asked them to create a version of CP/M (Control Program/Microcomputer). The owner of DR – Gary Kildall – snubbed the IBM lawyers and went flying or golfing (depending upon whose story you hear) instead. My latest information indicates that he was flying and did not golf.

IBM then turned to Microsoft. Bill Gates was very receptive to the IBM overture and also had information about an operating system which had already been written that would fill IBM’s need very nicely. Gates said yes to IBM, bought the operating system called DOS for a relatively trivial amount of money, $20,000 to $80,000, again depending upon who is telling the story, and modified it somewhat to run on the IBM PC.

For you trivia buffs, the other OS delivered with the original PC was the UCSD P-System (University of California at San Diego Pseudo code System). I will permit those who make a living from documenting the history of computers to describe that operating system elsewhere.

Incorrect Assumptions
I suppose we all know what assumptions can do for us. IBM made some interesting assumptions about the original PC in 1981; or rather, Don Estridge and his very autonomous development team did.

I was in a meeting with Estridge and a number of other people in April of 1981, when I first was assigned to write the IBM education for the PC. It was stated at this meeting that IBM expected to sell about 275,000 Personal Computers – over a five year product life. In fact, IBM sold almost that many on August 11, the day before the official announcement. IBM held a preannouncement showing of the PC in Toronto at the annual ComputerLand Dealers of North America conference. ComputerLand dealers placed orders for nearly 250,000 computers that day. On August 12, IBM took orders for almost 250,000 more Personal Computers. IBM’s planners have not been correct since.

At the same meeting the target environment for the PC was described. Here are some of the assumptions made then.
 * Small business would buy most PCs.
 * Large business would stick with mainframes and dumb terminals.
 * A few departments in large businesses would use PCs for local, non-connected work.
 * The PC would be used for one task only. Not just one task at a time, but a single task all day long. This might be a spreadsheet, or word processing, or accounting, but no more than one task would be performed all day.

Based on these assumptions, the operating system was specified to be single tasking. Besides, although the hardware was far more powerful than anything else available in the microcomputer market at the time, it just was not powerful enough to warrant the extra load that multitasking would place on it.

As we all know, DOS became the OS of choice for the Personal Computer. In part, this was due to its significantly lower price when compared to the other operating system choices then available for the PC.

The Problem
As soon as I bought my original PC ($5,000 for Intel 8088, 4.77 MHz, 96 KB RAM, monochrome display adapter and display, 80 CPS dot matrix printer) I ran into The Problem.

I was writing a letter in EasyWriter and needed to make a calculation so I could use the result in the letter. Why should I get out a $10 calculator when I have a $5000 one sitting here? Of course in order to use it as a calculator, I have to save my document, close EasyWriter, reboot to another diskette with the calculator program on it (which I wrote myself in BASIC), do the calculation, write down the answer, reboot to the diskette with EasyWriter, load the document, and type in the figure from the paper.

We needed multitasking already.

A couple smart companies like Borland came out with Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs like Sidekick which allowed you to switch to them by pressing a special key combination. Sidekick had the calculator as well as a calendar, notepad, schedule, and other little utilities which we all needed.

The TSR became a circumvention for the lack of intrinsic multitasking in DOS and the PC.

The PC AT – 1984
In 1984, IBM introduced the PC-AT which was the first (IBM) PC to use the new Intel 80286 processor. The 80286 was designed by Intel with support for multitasking built into it. IBM made a promise to its customers that they would provide a multitasking operating system for the PC-AT. IBM keeps its promises, unlike Microsoft.

The PC-AT was supposed to be able to do multitasking, and some IBM publicity photos even showed it connected to two dumb terminals. IBM had contracted Microsoft to create the first multitasking OS for the PC, but Bill Gates really did not want to do this for the 80286 processor. He publicly called the 80286 “brain dead” and constantly attempted to turn IBM away from creating OS/2 for the 80286 and to jump instead to the 80386 which was then under development at Intel.

Most people don’t know this, even many IBMers who should, but IBM has a series of internal documents called Corporate Directives. Corporate Directive number 2, signed by Thomas J. Watson Jr. in 1956, states that when IBM makes a promise to its customers it will keep that promise “… regardless of the cost.” It was on this basis that IBM pressured Microsoft to continue work on OS/2 1.00.

At this time, the IBM PC was the responsibility of Entry Systems Division (ESD). ESD was also working closely with Microsoft to produce OS/2. During this time, Microsoft was also working on the first versions of Windows, and IBM was working on a product called TopView which was a DOS add-on that allowed text mode multitasking. Most people do not remember TopView, but it was a good product and I used it between 1984 and 1987 when OS/2 1.00 was released.

OS/2 1.00 – 1987
Released in December, 1987, OS/2 1.00 was the first ever operating system for the Personal Computer to provide intrinsic multitasking based on hardware support. It was text mode only and allowed only one program to be on the screen at a time, even though other programs could be running in the background. It also allowed one very limited session in which DOS programs could be run. The maximum disk size supported was 32 MB.

Note: All 1.x versions of OS/2 were designed specifically to run on 80286 systems, but they were capable of running on 80386 systems as well.

OS/2 1.10 SE – 1988
In October, 1988, IBM released OS/2 1.10 Standard Edition (SE). SE 1.10 added a graphical user interface (GUI) to OS/2. This GUI, called Presentation Manager (PM), allowed users to interact with the operating system in a more friendly manner than the command line interface provided.

Unfortunately the PM required a very large learning curve on the part of programmers. When programmers became proficient they found that PM, and the rest of the OS/2 APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), were very powerful and quite efficient.

Support for large FAT hard drives was included in this version. By dividing large physical drives into multiple logical hard drives, up to 2 GB drives could be supported.

OS/2 1.10 EE – 1989
When IBM announced OS/2 1.10 SE, they also announced OS/2 1.20 EE (Extended Edition). This product, released in early 1989 included Database Manager and Communications Manager.

Database Manager was (and is) a multitasking relational database with a great deal of power. It is now called DB2.

Communications Manager provided IBM mainframe and midrange customers with multiple 3270 and 5250 emulation sessions. It also contained a really bad asynchronous communications program.

OS/2 1.20 – 1989
Released in November 1989, OS/2 1.20 (SE and EE) offered an improved Presentation Manager. Available with OS/2 1.2 EE for the first time was the High Performance File System (HPFS). HPFS is much more efficient and faster than FAT. HPFS also offers much greater data integrity.

REXX also appeared for the first time in OS/2 1.20 Extended Edition. REXX is a very powerful interpretive programming language which can be used for writing a complete application or as an extended batch language. I use REXX quite frequently to write everything from quick and dirty programs to do something one time, to very large, sophisticated programs which I use constantly.

Work had also begun on two new OS/2 products. Work on OS/2 2.0 was well underway. This product would be the first true 32 bit operating system for personal computers. Designed to work on the Intel 80386 and its follow on processors which were still in development, OS/2 2.00 would no longer be compatible with the 80286 processor.

OS/2 3.0 was in the very early stages of development and was intended at the time to be a network server version of the operating system. It was also intended to be platform independent. Because the operating system would be built on top of a microkernel, it would not need to be aware of the type of hardware on which it was running and therefore could run on Intel processors as well as Motorola, SUN, and DEC, chips with only a change of the microkernel hardware abstraction layer.

1990 – The Schism
In 1990, IBM and Microsoft were still working together on the development of OS/2. Microsoft, however, had found that Windows 3.0 – released in May 1990 – generated more revenue for them and therefore allotted increasingly more resource to Windows and correspondingly less to OS/2.

By late 1990, Microsoft had intensified its disagreements with IBM to the point where IBM decided that it would have to take some overt action to ensure that OS/2 development continued at a reasonable pace. IBM, therefore, took over complete development responsibility for OS/2 1.x, even though it was in its dying days, and OS/2 2.00. Microsoft would continue development on Windows and OS/2 3.00. Shortly after this split, Microsoft renamed OS/2 V3 to Windows NT.

OS/2 1.30 – 1991
OS/2 1.30 (SE and EE) was the first version which was written entirely by IBM. There was still some Microsoft code in it – that would not go away for a couple years yet – but all of the new code and a good portion of the existing code for OS/2 1.30 was written by IBM. As a result, OS/2 1.30 was smaller and faster than previous versions, more stable, and there were far more device drivers available, though still not nearly enough.

It has never ceased to amaze me that Microsoft could write code for Windows which was (relative to OS/2 1.1 and 1.2) easy to use and for which there were plenty of device drivers. Take the process required to install and configure a printer. Under Windows it was a simple two step process. Under OS/2 1.2 it required the user to perform unnatural acts: No wonder people thought OS/2 was difficult! In my opinion, Microsoft was intentionally making OS/2 as difficult to use as possible – or the programmers they had assigned to write OS/2 were the stupid ones. I still have a copy of the three page article I wrote for what was then OS/2 and Windows Magazine (it later became Windows magazine and never had any relationship to the late, lamented OS/2 Magazine) describing in detail the steps required to install and configure a printer under OS/2 1.20.
 * 1) Install the device drivers.
 * 2) Set up a printer queue.
 * 3) Create a printer object.
 * 4) Associate the device driver with the printer object.
 * 5) Associate the print queue with the printer object.
 * 6) Set up the COM port configuration for a serial printer.
 * 7) Use the SPOOL command to redirect printer output to the desired port.
 * 8) Specify optional printer settings.

With IBM writing OS/2 1.30, the printer installation became much easier, as did much of the installation and configuration. IBM completely rewrote the Print Manager in order to achieve this. It was not great yet, but it was incomparably better than it had been.

OS/2 1.30 added some other important new or improved features.
 * REXX was added to the SE version. It had previously only been available with EE.
 * Adobe Type I type fonts. (It was shortly after this that Microsoft began development of TrueType fonts. Interesting!)
 * New, more easily readable fonts for the command prompt sessions.
 * Lazy Write was added to the HPFS file system.
 * The swapping algorithm was improved considerably to enhance performance.
 * Video device drivers were enhanced to include high resolutions up to 1024×768.

OS/2 2.00 – 1992
OS/2 2.00 was released in the spring of 1992. The first true 32 bit operating system for personal computers (and for years the only one) it met IBM’s stated goal of being a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows. It did this through the use of Virtual DOS Machines (VDMs) which allowed OS/2 to run many DOS (and Windows) programs at the same time as though they were on completely separate computers. As far as the DOS programs were concerned, they actually were in separate computers. Windows programs run on IBM’s licensed version of Windows 3.0 called Win-OS/2.

Because of this separation of DOS programs from each other, one Windows (remember – Windows is a DOS program) program which crashes can not crash any other Windows program. By placing Windows programs which do not play well together in Windows sessions in different VDMs, they can both run without interfering with each other. In addition the programs can still communicate through Dynamic Data Exchange and the clipboard.

The Workplace Shell (WPS) was also introduced in OS/2 2.00. The Workplace Shell is an object oriented user interface (OOUI). The IBM WPS takes the GUI to the next generation by integrating it much more fully with the rest of the operating system, including the file system.

OS/2 2.10 – 1993
In May of 1993, IBM released OS/2 2.10. This version sported a new, faster, fully 32 bit graphics subsystem, TrueType fonts for Win-OS/2 sessions, and Multimedia Presentation Manager (MMPM/2) which provided sound and video multimedia capabilities. Windows support was upgraded from 3.0 to 3.1.

PCMCIA support for laptop computers also made its debut with OS/2 2.10, along with Advanced Power Management (APM). OS/2 could work with laptop computers with an APM BIOS to reduce power consumption and extend battery life. PCMCIA support was crude and supported only a very few computers and PCMCIA credit card adapters.

To reduce the price of OS/2 for users who already had Windows on their computers, IBM released OS/2 2.11 for Windows in late 1993. This version of OS/2 did not have Win-OS/2 and, instead, relied upon the copy of Windows 3.1 already installed on the computer to allow OS/2 to run Windows programs. It did this by making some minor modifications to the Windows SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI files, and hooking the Windows 3.1 code once it was loaded into memory so that OS/2 could control the Windows 3.1 code in the VDM.

OS/2 Warp – 1994
OS/2 Warp Version 3 made its debut in October 1994 as OS/2 Warp for Windows. Like OS/2 2.11 for Windows, it did not contain IBM’s Win-OS/2 code and relied on Windows 3.1 to run Windows programs. OS/2 Warp 3 with full Win-OS/2 support became available a short time later.

Warp 3 was designed to install and run on a computer with only 4 MB of RAM and it did. Performance was tolerable, but adding more RAM improved performance considerably. Additional device drivers made Warp 3 capable of running with the vast majority of personal computers and peripherals on the market. The Workplace Shell was improved significantly in terms of both its functionality and performance. Print performance, PCMCIA support, and multimedia support were all enhanced significantly.

TCP/IP and Internet communications were also added to Warp 3. The Internet Access Kit (IAK) provided a complete package to enable Warp users to log on and surf the net. The Web Explorer allowed users access to the World Wide Web, although it was neither as feature rich nor as flexible as the industry leader, NetScape. Text mode and graphical FTP applications allowed file transfer. Ultimail Lite gave users e-mail, but Ultimail is cumbersome, slow, and very difficult to configure.

Unlike previous versions of OS/2, Warp shipped with a BonusPak CD-ROM which contained several OS/2 applications. IBM Works is a set of integrated applications including a spreadsheet, word processor, database, report generator, and charting program.

Warp Connect
Released in 1995, Warp Connect combines all of the features of Warp 3 with network connectivity and tools. Warp Connect Peer functions allow client workstations to share resources such as files, printers, and modems with other users on a network. LAN Server 4.0 and Netware requesters allow access to the most popular network server environments.

Warp Server
In early 1996 IBM released Warp Server. This landmark product combines the power and functionality of Warp 3 with the network server capabilities of IBM’s LAN Server 4.0 product. With some relatively minor fixes to the LAN Server product, and the addition of many previously separate products, Warp Server is the leading server environment.

Warp Server includes many features which would cost extra with other server operating systems. OS/2 Warp Server delivers an integrated platform for the emerging application server environment as well as a complete set of traditional file and print services. Warp Server provides an integrated packaging of OS/2 Warp, LAN Server 4.0 (with some enhancements and fixes), SystemView for OS/2, remote access, advanced backup disaster and recovery, and a new printing capability that allows, among other things, printing postscript files on non-postscript printers.

SMP Feature for OS/2 Warp Server Advanced – 1996
IBM introduced Warp Server SMP in Late 1996. Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) provides the ability for the operating system to spread the computing workload across multiple processors. The advantage of SMP as implemented in OS/2 is that it balances the processing load fairly equally between the processors.

OS/2 Warp Server Advanced with SMP outperforms Microsoft Windows NT Server 3.51 by more than 25 percent in capacity. OS/2 Symmetric-multiprocessing provides support for more users by allowing software servers to exploit multiple processors with the same server software installed. The SMP feature for OS/2 Warp Server Advanced is optimized for 2-way and 4-way SMP systems, the dominant SMP hardware platforms available today, but has the ability right now to support up to 64 processors – far more than any other SMP offering in the market. Ziff-Davis Labs observed a 90 percent improvement in throughput when adding one processor, and a 300 percent improvement when adding three processors. This scalability is significantly better than that of Windows NT. The SMP feature not only supports 32-bit SMP-enabled applications, but also offers increased performance for non-SMP applications.

OS/2 Warp 4 – 1996
Warp 4, code named Merlin, was released in September of 1996 with a significant facelift for the Workplace Shell. New features include Java, and VoiceType Navigation and Dictation.

Warp 4 is called the “Universal Client” by IBM because of its unparalleled network connectivity.


 * Connect to anything, anywhere with a universal network client which allows simultaneous connectivity to LAN Server, Warp Server, Windows NT Server, Novell Netware, Netware Directory Services, PCLAN Program, IPX-SPX, LANtastic for DOS or OS/2, Warp Connect, Windows NT Workstation, Windows 95, Windows for Workgroups, TCP/IP (including DHCP, DDNS, FTP, TFTP, Telnet, SLIP, PPP, SMTP, and SNMP), SNA, NetBIOS.
 * Java is built into Warp 4 so you need no additional software to run powerful and easy Java applications locally or right from the World Wide Web.
 * VoiceType speech recognition makes Warp 4 the only operating system in the world to allow voice navigation and dictation with no additional software.
 * WarpGuides provide intelligent self-configurable guidance for common tasks. Ideal for new users or users new to OS/2.
 * Internet aware desktop allows one-click access to your favorite web sites.
 * TME 10 NetFinity (SystemView) for exceptional systems management, including DMI (Desktop Management Interface) support.
 * Remote Access Services (LAN Distance) for remote access capabilities which allow you to access your network from home or the road. Remote Access Services can also allow ad hoc WAN configuration for temporary or emergency use.
 * Mobile Office Services allows the Road Warrior to keep files synchronized with the office.

Warp Server for e-business (Aurora) – 1999
This new version of Warp Server (Code name Aurora) called Warp Server for e-business, will become available in early 1999. It will have a number of new and very interesting features.
 * Full Y2K compliance out of the box. Previous versions of Warp are Y2K compliant after installation of fixpacks.
 * Support for Eurocurrency.
 * A graphical interface for defining and managing National Language Support (NLS) Locales. A Locale is usually a country.
 * Netscape Communicator 4.04.
 * Lotus Domino Go Server for hosting web sites.
 * WebSphere Application Server 1.1.
 * NT Server Management. This will allow management of NT domains and servers from an OS/2 system including the ability to keep OS/2 and NT accounts synchronized. Users will be able to log on once and have access to both OS/2 and NT server resources.
 * I2O support. Intelligent I/O means that so long as a device supports I2O there will be no need to wait for the vendor to provide an OS/2 version of the device driver. In fact, no operating system specific device drivers need to be written for I2O devices.
 * SMP support.
 * Network File System (NFS) for sharing files across networks.
 * Logical Volume Management will allow users to create logical volumes that are not location dependent. For example a user can create a D: drive and weeks or months later move it to a different physical hard drive and still refer to it as D:. LVM also allows logical volumes to span multiple physical disk drives and gives users the ability to expand the size of a logical volume on the fly – without rebooting the system.
 * The Journaling File System (JFS) provides faster performance, higher disk capacity, improved scalability, and faster recoverability.

Warp Server for e-business uses the object oriented user interface (OOUI) of Warp 4 for its user interface.

The New Millennium
By the mid-2000s IBM had terminated support of OS/2. There are still a few folks using OS/2 on computers that are tucked away in closets and that most of their users have forgotten about. But they are still there chugging away.

Most current hardware, particularly the peripherals is not supported by OS/2 and no commercial software is available — which might be a good thing. Some open-source software is available and runs well on OS/2, so if you want to keep that old box going you can find new software for it.

Frankly there are much better operating systems than OS/2 these days, and Windows is still not one of them. Mac OS and Linux are the best choices today.

The Future of OS/2
IBM has stated that it will continue to develop and promote OS/2 for at least the next ten years. The future development of OS/2 Warp has been laid out by IBM for the next five years. Here is what I know and can tell.

Java
IBM views Java as a way to make application programs independent of the operating system on which they run. Because of Java’s pivotal role in the next few years, IBM is spending large amounts of money on Java development. The language itself, programming tools, and Java applications are all being developed.

Additional Hardware Support
IBM recognizes the need for more hardware device drivers for OS/2 and has committed significant money and development resource to creating additional hardware drivers over the next five years, which is as far as the plan goes for now.

Warp Server (Aurora) – 1999
This new version of Warp Server (Code name Aurora) called Warp Server for e-business, will become available in early 1999. It will have a number of new and very interesting features.


 * Full Y2K compliance out of the box. Previous versions of Warp are Y2K compliant after installation of fixpacks.
 * Support for Eurocurrency.
 * A graphical interface for defining and managing National Language Support (NLS) Locales. A Locale is usually a country.
 * Netscape Communicator 4.04.
 * Lotus Domino Go Server for hosting web sites.
 * WebSphere Application Server 1.1.
 * NT Server Management. This will allow management of NT domains and servers from an OS/2 system including the ability to keep OS/2 and NT accounts synchronized. Users will be able to log on once and have access to both OS/2 and NT server resources.
 * I2O support. Intelligent I/O means that so long as a device supports I2O there will be no need to wait for the vendor to provide an OS/2 version of the device driver.
 * SMP support.
 * Network File System (NFS) for sharing files across networks.
 * Logical Volume Management will allow users to create logical volumes that are not location dependent. For example a user can create a D: drive and weeks or months later move it to a different physical hard drive and still refer to it as D:. LVM also allows logical volumes to span multiple physical disk drives and gives users the ability to expand the size of a logical volume on the fly – without rebooting the system.
 * The Journaling File System (JFS) provides faster performance, higher disk capacity, improved scalability, and faster recoverability.

Warp Server for e-business uses the object oriented user interface (OOUI) of Warp 4 for its user interface.

Who Uses OS/2 Warp
Well, not a lot of people use OS/2 Warp as I write this page in 2012. However the following pages are interesting primarily in a historical context and should be taken in that context.

There are still some users of OS/2 even today. Banks and financial institutions are among the last to migrate to other platforms, in part due to regulatory issues, and in part due to the innate inertia of financial organizations.

If you have any information about who might be still using OS/2, please drop me an email and let me know. I think that would be interesting information to add to this DataBook.

When was the last time you used OS/2
Most people do not realize how widely OS/2 is used and how frequently they come into contact with it – without ever knowing it. Most people do not even realize that they have used OS/2. If you have ever used an Automated Teller Machine, you have used OS/2.

Almost all ATMs in the U.S. and Canada are driven by OS/2. Banks must use an operating system for the ATM environment which is mature, stable, and which provides the highest degree of data integrity. OS/2 Warp meets all of those requirements. It is critical that they know who’s account to debit the ATM transaction to.

Whenever a sales clerk rings up your purchase on an IBM or an NCR point of sale system, OS/2 is usually running that system.

Who uses Warp in North America?
OS/2 Warp is used in many areas of business and government in North America which touch almost everyone.


 * The 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta was one of the most visible organizations using OS/2. Over 7,000 PCs and laptops, all running OS/2 and connected to over 250 separate LANs were be used for scoring, Lotus Notes E-mail, multimedia kiosks and much more. Scoring systems were linked to timing devices which recorded results and competition statistics. Results were collected on an OS/2 Server using DB/2 Database for OS/2. After validation by judges, local results were sent via wireless LAN to a central database on a System/390 for distribution to other venues. Although IBM experienced problems with the system, none of the problems were related to OS/2 Warp or any of the functions performed by systems running Warp.
 * Ford dealerships in the U.S. and Canada are standardizing on IBM workstations that run English and French versions of OS/2 2.11. Long term they will migrate to OS/2 Warp. In addition, when the Ford Motor Company decided to launch Fordstar, a PC-based satellite system to communicate with the company’s North American dealers, it chose IBM as its primary supplier. At its core, Fordstar will use IBM’s advanced PC technology as well as OS/2.
 * Toyota – All U.S. dealerships are converting to OS/2 in their parts department.
 * Wachovia Corporation, one of North Carolina’s largest banks, has invested $30 million to standardize on an OS/2 Warp-based retail system network throughout 500 branches.
 * Union Bank, California’s fourth-largest financial institution, is moving more than half of its 7,000 employees onto OS/2 Warp in a dramatic attempt to improve customer service and boost its bottom line.
 * NationsBank, will add up to 2,500 OS/2 additional clients and 400 more servers in Florida, joining the 1,700 clients and 250 servers already in use throughout Georgia.
 * Almost every ATM in the U.S. and Canada uses OS/2 for its reliability.
 * Most NCR and IBM POS (cash register) systems use OS/2.
 * The United States Navy placed an order for 400,000 copies of OS/2 Warp in late 1995; this number was not counted in the 1995 Warp numbers because they had not shipped at that time.
 * Starbucks Coffee uses Warp for their Point of Sale management systems. The cash registers in each of more than 1,600 stores are controlled by a computer running Warp.
 * Most airline ticketing systems use OS/2.
 * Delta Airlines uses OS/2 for all its gate agents.
 * The entire U.S. railroad transportation system is converting to OS/2 for a critical application.
 * The CSX (Railroad) transportation system uses OS/2 extensively.
 * Half the prisons in the U.S. are run by OS/2. (Don’t ask me which half!)
 * In many states the federal judicial system is run on OS/2.
 * Most computers in police cars use OS/2.
 * The Indianapolis 500 uses OS/2 for real time data acquisition and scoring.
 * Wal-Mart is returning to OS/2 Warp after Windows NT failed to perform satisfactorily.
 * The North Carolina DMV replaced Windows 95 systems with an application driven by OS/2 Warp on all their workstations. They no longer suffer crippling downtime or long lines of frustrated people trying to get their drivers licenses renewed.
 * The State of Georgia DMV uses the same OS/2 system to serve their drivers license customers.
 * Blockbuster Video uses OS/2 for their video-on-demand system.
 * Office Depot uses Warp in all its store systems.

Who uses OS/2 Warp in Europe?
Usage of OS/2 in europe far exceeds that of the United States. Nearly 75% of all PCs in Europe run OS/2. Apparently the Europeans have not been as quick to accept the Gospel According to Gates.
 * Amadeus runs OS/2 to provide reservations services to Travel Agents Europe-wide.
 * The European Patent Office uses OS/2 to process patent examinations Europe-wide.
 * Both Barclays and Midland Banks use OS/2 at their Personal Banker stations.
 * Deutsche Lufthansa upgraded 20,000 workstations to Warp.
 * Banca Commerciale Italiana (Comit) in Italy has purchased 10,000 OS/2 client and 1600 LAN Server licenses.
 * British Aerospace uses OS/2 to distribute weather information to military and civilian airports throughout the UK on a minute-by-minute basis.
 * Unilever uses OS/2 to globally maintain and distribute the most valuable asset of its Ice Cream division – the recipes.
 * Heathrow Airport uses OS/2 to provide communication gateways for the various airline reservation systems.
 * The most exclusive Cruiseline company in Europe uses OS/2 to book cruise passengers.
 * ABN-AMRO, the biggest bank in the Netherlands runs 15,000 packages of OS/2.

Who uses OS/2 in Asia?
Asia has also taken to OS/2 in a big way.
 * Japan’s telecommunications giant, NTT Corporation bought 20,000 OS/2 licenses and committed to an additional 20,000 to be rolled out through 1997.
 * Sumitomo Bank in Japan has purchased 400 OS/2 licenses to serve their 3,000 desktop clients.
 * QBE Insurance in Australia, plans to install Warp in over 70 branches nationwide.
 * The Royal Bank of Australia has switched back to OS/2 after Windows NT did not live up to the promises made for it.
 * The six largest banks in China, each with over 20,000 branches, are all switching to OS/2 Warp.

Who uses OS/2 elsewhere?
Many other places in the word use OS/2 as well.
 * Data Control Informatica uses 100,000 copies of Warp in 47 Brazilian schools.
 * The U.N. uses OS/2 to distribute all types of global data between departments.

Introduction To Operating Systems
This section defines the operating system, and discusses the beginnings of operating systems. It also covers the features to be found in nearly any operating system and the programmer’s view of OS/2.

Defining an Operating System
The most important single choice you will make concerning your computer is that of the operating system which will create a useful tool out of it. Computers have no ability to do anything without software. If you turn on a computer which has no software program, it simply generates revenue for the electric company in return for adding a little heat to the room. There are far less expensive ways to heat a room.

The operating system is the first level of software which allows your computer to perform useful work.

Understanding the role of the operating system is key to making informed decisions about your computer. This chapter defines the operating system in terms of its role in your computer. It also discusses the major PC operating systems which are available today and tells you why OS/2 is the best one for a business environment.

Defining the Operating System
Every computer requires an operating system. The operating system performs many critical functions which, in turn, allows the computer to perform useful work.

Figure 1-1: A Typical Computer System From the User’s Viewpoint

To understand the need for an operating system, it is necessary to understand a little about the structure of the hardware which comprises a computer system. The microprocessor which is located in the system unit is the brains of the system. It is the part of the computer which is responsible for executing each of the instructions specified by the software application program. The keyboard is used for input to the computer, and printers and displays can be used for output. Random Access Memory (RAM) is used to store data and programs while they are being actively used by the computer. Programs and data cannot be used by the computer unless they are stored in RAM. RAM is volatile memory; that is, the data stored in RAM is lost if the computer is turned off. Diskettes and fixed disks are magnetic media used for long term storage of data and programs. Magnetic media is nonvolatile; the data stored on a disk remains even when power is removed from the computer.

Figure 1-2: Internal Components of the System Unit

All of these pieces of the computer must work together. Data must be gotten into the computer and moved about between the various components. Programs must be loaded from long term storage on the hard drive into RAM where they can be executed. Processor time needs to be allocated between running applications. Access to the hardware components of the computer such as RAM, disk drives, and printers by application programs must be managed. It is the task of the operating system to provide these functions. The operating system manages the operation of the computer and of the application software which runs on the computer.

A simple definition of an operating system is that it is a program, much like any other program; it is different only in that its function is to manage the movement of data in the computer; it also manages access to the hardware devices of the computer by application programs. In addition, an operating system provides at least some minimal system utility programs for managing various aspects of the system such as the hard drive and memory. These utility programs perform functions like deleting files, copying files from one place to another, establishing serial and parallel port parameters, and setting display resolution.

Genesis of the Operating System
In the very early days of programming, the late nineteen forties and early nineteen fifties, each programmer not only had to write the application program which performed a specific function, he or she also had to write all of the very low level instructions which moved the data between the components of the computer. In addition, the programmer had to write those same instructions for managing data flow in the computer every time a new application program was written. This duplication of effort was very time consuming and wasteful.

Finally, some smart programmer said “Aren’t computers supposed to save people time in repetitive tasks? Why don’t we apply that to us programmers as well?”. In 1956, programmers at General Motors Research Labs, in cooperation with North American Aviation, did exactly that; they wrote a program which they called Input/Output System, which simplified the application programmers’ task.

This I/O System incorporated all of the common groups of instructions which were routinely used to move data from one place in the computer to another into libraries to which each programmer would have access. These groups of instructions, once having been developed, were then used many times by many different programmers in many different applications. In 1957, IBM announced its Input/Output Control System (IOCS) which provided the same type of functionality. IOCS provided programmers with standard instruction groups which could be used repeatedly for input and output operations.

These control programs allowed for the execution of one program at a time. The computer operator ran the payroll program. When the payroll program was finished, the operator could run an inventory program or accounts receivable, or whatever job was next in line. This is a single tasking environment, like DOS on personal computers.

To run an application program under IOCS, an operator would place an especial card (this was in the days of eighty column punched cards) called a bootstrap loader into the read hopper of the card reader attached to the system. Behind this card was placed the application program, and then behind the program, the operator placed the deck of data cards. After the cards were loaded into the reader, the operator pressed the LOAD button on the computer. The computer was just smart enough to read one card from the hopper of the card reader; this was the bootstrap loader. At this point, the computer turned control over to the bootstrap loader which was just smart enough to be able to load the rest of the application program and turn control of the computer over to it. If more than one application needed to be run, the operator would wait until the first application had finished. Then, he or she would place the bootstrap loader into the input hopper of the card reader, place the application and data decks in behind, and press the LOAD button again.

In 1962, IBM developed IBSYS, which provided not only for standard I/O instruction groups, but also supervised the operation of the computer. IBSYS supervised the loading and operation of application programs by allowing automatic sequential execution of multiple programs. It allowed multiple programs and their data to be placed in the input hopper of the card reader and it automatically executed each of those programs, one after the other. No more bootstrap loader was required in front of every application program. IBSYS also provided messages to the system operator to mount or dismount tapes and disk packs, as well as to change the paper in the printer so that checks could now be printed, for example, instead of invoices. This capability is very much like the batch files of DOS and OS/2 which can be used to execute a sequence of commands and programs.

IBM introduced the IBM System/360 in 1964, and with it, a new operating system, OS/360. OS/360 was a multitasking operating system, which now allowed systems to process a continuous flow of many different types of jobs with minimal intervention from the operators. Multitasking meant that multiple programs could be loaded into the computer and executed simultaneously. The multitasking capability of OS/360 was initially limited to a maximum of three programs, however. Later operating systems provided the capability to multitask as many programs as the computer had the resources to allow.

Primary Operating System Functions
Any operating system has some core functions which are the primary reason for its existence. These can be referred to as kernel functions because they are built into the kernel of the operating system. Warp’s kernel is the file OS2KRNL. Note that the file name has no extension.

The OS/2 kernel performs the following basic functions:
 * 1) Memory management. The kernel allocates and deallocates memory and assigns physical memory locations based upon requests, either implicit or explicit, from application programs. In cooperation with the CPU, the kernel also manages access to memory to ensure that programs only access those regions of memory which have been assigned to them. Part of memory management includes managing the SWAPPER.DAT file and the movement of memory pages between RAM and the swapper file on the hard drive.
 * 2) Task management. The OS/2 kernel manages the execution of all tasks running on the system. The scheduler portion of the kernel allocates CPU time to each running process based on its priority and whether it is capable of running. A task which is blocked – perhaps it is waiting for data to be delivered from the disk, or for input from the keyboard – does not receive CPU time. The OS/2 kernel will also preempt a lower priority task when a task with a higher priority becomes unblocked and capable of running.
 * 3) Interprocess communication.Interprocess communication (IPC) is vital to any multitasking operating system. Many tasks must be synchronized or communicate with each other to ensure that their work is properly coordinated. The kernel manages a number of IPC methods.Shared memory is used when two tasks need to pass data between them. The OS/2 clipboard is a good example of shared memory. Data which is cut or copied to the clipboard is stored in shared memory. When the stored data is pasted into another application, that application looks for the data in the clipboard’s shared memory area.
 * 4) Named pipes can be used to communicate data between two programs. Data can be pushed into the pipe by one program and the other program can pull the data out of the other end of the pipe. A program may collect data very quickly and push it into the pipe. Another program may take the data out of the other end of the pipe and either display it on the screen or store it to the disk, but it can handle the data at its own rate.
 * 5) Semaphores can be used to coordinate the activity of two programs or two separate threads within a single program. When one task sets the semaphore, for example, the other task cannot proceed until the first has reset the semaphore.
 * 6) Device management.The kernel manages access to the physical hardware through the use of device drivers. Access to physical devices must be managed carefully or more than one application might attempt to control the same device at the same time. The OS/2 kernel manages this so that only one program actually has control of or access to a device at any given moment.One example of this is a COM port. Only one program can communicate through a COM port at any given time. If you are using the COM port to get your e-mail from the Internet, for example, and try to start another program which attempts to use the same COM port such as HyperAccess Lite, the OS/2 kernel detects that the COM port is already in use. The kernel then uses the hardware error handler (HARDERR.EXE) to display a message on the screen that the COM port is in use.
 * 7) I/O Management.The kernel is also responsible for managing I/O devices. This includes parallel and serial port I/O, and file system I/O.The kernel does not actually handle physical access to the disk, but rather manages the requests for disk I/O submitted by the various running programs. It passes these requests on to the file system, whether it be FAT, HPFS, CDFS (CD-ROM file system), or NFS (Network file system), and manages the transfer of data between the file system and the requesting programs.

Much of the code for actual implementation of these kernel level functions resides in dynamic link libraries such as DOSCALL1.DLL. The command processor, CMD.EXE is also part of the kernel. Some basic command line commands are also included in the kernel as part of the file CMD.EXE. The commands are called Internal commands because they are a part of the kernel. The COPY and DEL commands are examples of internal commands.

Utilities
In addition to its kernel functions, most operating systems provide a number of basic utility programs which enable users to manage the computer on which the operating system resides. These are the external commands such as XCOPY, FDISK, FORMAT, DISKCOPY, and so on, which make managing the computer so much easier. These utilities are not truly part of the operating system; they are merely provided as useful external tools.

Long Term Compatibility
It is important to note that one very compelling feature of OS/2 is visible only to programmers. Warp has a very stable set of APIs (Application Programming Interface). An API is an interface through which programmers use a high level language to access operating system functions and data.

Although the API function set of OS/2 has grown over the years, it has remained remarkably stable and consistent. Programs written on and for very early versions of OS/2 will still run properly on today’s Warp 4 and on tomorrow’s versions of OS/2, whatever they might be called.

I am not a programmer, although I program a little bit so that I can more fully understand the inner workings of OS/2. I wrote a very small C language program several years ago under OS/2 1.1 using the tools available at that time. This was a simple Presentation Manager (GUI) program which created a window on the desktop in which was displayed some information about the operating system and disk drive usage. I used the API functions available at that time to obtain the operating system and disk data. That little program still runs today on Warp 4 with no errors and with the same correct results as I obtained on OS/2 1.1. The reason is the consistency of the OS/2 APIs.

IBM believes that customers (and programmers are part of the customer set for any operating system) should be able to expect long term consistency and backwards compatibility in the products they buy from IBM. That means that programs which ran last year or two years ago or last month, should run today and should still run tomorrow. It means that complete code rewrites should not be required every time the operating system is upgraded. Actually IBM believes this about its hardware, too. There are IBM ES/9000 systems which are still running programs written for the System/360 back in the 1960s. This is due to the backwards compatibility of IBM’s hardware and operating systems.

IBM brings this same compatibility to the desktop with OS/2 Warp. Not only can it run the programs written for early versions of OS/2, it can run almost every DOS and Windows 3.x program ever written. That is more programs than any other operating system on the face of the planet.

There have been about as many versions of Windows to date as there have of OS/2. OS/2 has at least 10 major version releases not counting CSDs and Fixpaks: And almost every OS/2 program will run on all versions. Almost every DOS and Windows program will run on every version of OS/2 since 2.00.
 * OS/2 1.00
 * OS/2 1.10
 * OS/2 1.20
 * OS/2 1.30
 * OS/2 2.00
 * OS/2 2.10
 * OS/2 2.11 for Windows
 * OS/2 2.11
 * OS/2 Warp for Windows
 * OS/2 Warp
 * OS/2 Warp Connect
 * OS/2 Warp Connect for Windows
 * OS/2 Warp 4
 * OS/2 Warp Server

Windows (In)Compatibility
Microsoft has invented a new set of APIs for almost every version of Windows it has ever produced. Programs written for Windows (V1) or Windows 286 will not run on any later versions of Windows. Windows 2.0 programs won’t run on Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 or Windows NT. Most Windows 3.1 programs will not run under Windows 95 or Windows NT.

Why? Because, in my opinion, Microsoft has no desire for their Windows products to be backwards compatible. Which company sells the most horizontal applications (spreadsheets, word processors, etc.) for Windows? Why, Microsoft, of course! Microsoft plays a game with the rest of the industry. Every time one or more of the horizontal application vendors competing with Microsoft approaches a significant market share, Microsoft announces a new version of Windows. And interestingly enough, each major new version is the proud possessor of a completely new API set.

Of course the Microsoft horizontal application programmers have access to the API before anyone else, and so their applications are available for the new operating system before anyone else’s. Big surprise!! So Microsoft leads the pack in market share right from the beginning.

Every time a major new version of Windows is released, every software vendor who wants to remain current must completely rewrite their application software.