OS/2 v.2.2 in June


 * REPRINT From: Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.advocacy
 * (From Communications Week, Feb 14, 1994)

By Patrick Dryden
 * "IBM Promises OS/2 Version 2.2 by June"

Dallas: The corporate users and consultants who gathered here for a briefing on IBM's operating system goals two weeks ago were pleased by the company's disclosures about OS/2 version 2.2 and its scheduled availability "by June at the latest".

The upcoming release runs well on 4 megabytes instead of 16 megabytes of memory, said Paul Giangarra, lead architect for OS/2 and Workplace OS for IBM Personal Software Products, Austin, Texas.

Some users were concerned about compromises that have been necessary to get OS/2 to run using less RAM. But Giangarra said that by optimizing version 2.1 and making some features optional, IBM was able to shrink OS/2 to fit the 4-megabyte standard base memory configuration.

"That wasn't possible with OS/2 2.0, but I was able to get 2.1 stable on a 4-megabyte laptop, running slowly. Now we can look forward to a really robust version," said Jim Stuyck, a consultant and officer of the Dallas-Fort Worth OS/2 Users Group.

"If it's true, then we'll be able to spread OS/2 across more stations," said an information technology group leader from a local corporation.

Support for C-2 level security and symmetric multiprocessing will be available optionally, IBM said.

During the briefing, David Barnes, IBM's OS/2 evangelist, promised 3-D effects and more color instead of "that neutral, soothing but dog-ugly interface."

Attendees were impressed by demonstrations of OS/2's multithreaded, preemptive multitasking capabilities.

"This is vital for clients. OS/2 gives every DOS and (Microsoft Corp.) Windows application multiple threads so they won't get dropped when you extend them across the network."

That was the case with a reporting system developed for Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay Inc., according to Jerald Evans, vice president of Renaissance Information Technology Inc., Grapevine, Texas. "We could juggle all the data retrieval only under OS/2."

In the future, many users will be able to build their own applications by assembling objects that fetch data from any source in a transparent network, IBM's Giangarra said. -- Phil Longstaff, Motorola Codex, Mississauga Ontario