Home Computing with OS/2

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HOME COMPUTING ON OS/2

August 31, 1993
Wayne M. Caswell
IBM PSPD

COPYRIGHT INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION 1993. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Preface

Vision:

What's the future of computing? Try 2.5 PCs in every home by the end of the decade. That's the view of Channel Marketing Corporation, the Dallas market research and consulting firm that projects that more than 100 million computers will be sold in 1999 (not by 1999). What are the market drivers? Parents working more at home. Kids Education. Hand-held and notebook PCs. And interactive TV.(1)

IBM is in a unique position to take the lead in computer growth for the home. This is because of its collection of enabling technologies, skills and alliances. IBM technologies will make personal computers more portable, more powerful and much easier to use, expanding their role and improving their benefit. As collaborative business systems, they'll help you stay in touch with people and information, any time and anywhere you happen to be. And as personal agents, they'll act as your partner and advisor, letting you spend more time with family while improving business effectiveness. You'll have more freedom over where and when you work and live.

This paper is intended to show existing PC users how IBM technologies can be applied to home computing applications and how OS/2 provides unique benefits as a PC operating system for the home. There is still much work to be done to make OS/2 (and personal computers in general) more of a consumer product, like the telephone or TV or VCR. Almost every household in America has a phone and TV. Many have several. Computer technology, however, is still too new, lacks compelling applications, and is too difficult to use for many consumers to be interested. That's the current view, but OS/2 is helping to change that view.

DISCLAIMER:

The information contained in this document has not been submitted to any formal IBM test and is distributed on an "as is" basis without any warranty either express or implied. The use of this information or the implementation of any of these techniques is a customer responsibility and depends on the customer's ability to evaluate and integrate them into the customer's operational environment. While each item may have been reviewed by IBM for accuracy in a specific situation, there is no guarantee that similar outcomes will result elsewhere. Customers attempting to adapt these techniques to their own environments do so at their own risk. This information is not intended to be an assertion of future action or a commitment to deliver products.

1   Tom Steinert-Threlkeld, "The Dallas Morning News,"  July 3, 1993, p. F1.

DIRECT COMMENTS CONCERNING THIS PAPER AND ANY CORRECTIONS TO:

MAIL: Wayne Caswell

              Program Manager, Marketing Strategies
              IBM Personal Software Products Division
              11400 Burnet Rd.  Bldg.808, Zip 2999
              Austin, TX  78758
TELEPHONE:     512-823-1746 (VOICE line)
               512-823-2733 (FAX line)
INTERNET:      WCASWELL@VNET.IBM.COM
PROFS:         WCASWELL at AUSVM1

The author (and IBM) may use or distribute any information you supply in any way believed appropriate without incurring any obligation whatever.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

              HOME COMPUTING ON OS/2
              Operating System/2 Highlights
              A Vision of Home Computing Today
                Today's Advantages for the Work-at-home Office
                Choosing Application Software
                Telecommunications
                  Electronic Mail
                  On-line Services
                  Advanced Telephone Features
                  Voice Mail
                  Facsimile
                  Fax-on-demand
                Family Advisor
                Financial Management Software
                On-screen Reminder System
                Education and Games
                Multimedia
                Music Education
                Graphics and Photographs
                Video and TV
                Special Needs
                Voice Recognition
                Language Translation
              A Vision of Home Computing Tomorrow
                Tomorrow's Promise for the "Electronic Home"
                Home Network and Automation
                High Speed Communications
                Interactive TV
                Standards and Regulations
                Developing Applications with Reusable Objects
              Happy Home Computing Requirements
                Multitasking
                Compatibility with your PC Hardware and Applications
                Ease of Learning and Use
                Ease of Installation
                Leaving your PC up and running
                Choosing the location of your PC
                Choosing the Right Hardware
                Backup and Recovery
                Don't forget Insurance
                Preparing for Scheduling Conflicts
              Who works at Home?
              Technical Tips for OS/2 users at Home
              Can't Microsoft Windows do that?
              OS/2 Awards
              Information Sources
              Ordering Information


Home Computing on OS/2

OS/2 has the potential to change the way you use your computer, elevating it from hobby status to home appliance and tool, and increasing its value to you and your entire family. This guide includes a vision of home computing that happens when you leave your computer powered on and run a multitasking system like OS/2. It then describes how to happily apply OS/2 technology today. Although OS/2 is known as the world's leading system for enterprise computing, you'll soon discover its potential in the home.

Operating System/2 Highlights

OS/2 2.1 is the latest release of IBM's award-winning PC operating system. OS/2 Version 2 was more than a new version. It was a new vision and a breakthrough operating system that exploits the power of today's 32-bit Intel-based processors (386, 486, etc.). It takes your PC applications beyond the limitations of the past and lets you do more with them than you ever could with DOS or with DOS & Windows. It also lets you run tens of thousands of DOS, Windows and OS/2 applications, and run them concurrently - an important capability for the work-at-home household. In other words, true multitasking.

"But wait a minute. Why should I care about multitasking?" you may ask. "I only do one thing at a time." That's because your PC operating system only lets you do one thing at a time. But is your dinner prepared that way?

  1. Pour a drink.
  2. Wait until finished drinking.
  3. Prepare a salad.
  4. Eat the salad.
  5. Prepare a potato.
  6. Eat the potato.
  7. Prepare the meat.
  8. Eat the meat.
  9. Prepare desert.
  10. ...

No. As ridiculous as this scenario is, it makes you wonder why anything would work that way. A cook sets up each item, cooking and switching between tasks as he feels necessary. A cook handles interruptions, such as a pot boiling over, and switches attention as needed. The potato and steak continue cooking (in the background) while the cook takes the pot off of the burner or prepares the desert. A computer should do the same and can with OS/2. And with OS/2 Crash Protection, each running application is protected from the next, so if one fails it won't affect the others.

About the only thing better than how much OS/2 can do, is how easily it does it all. There's a graphical interface - the WorkPlace Shell - that makes OS/2 easy to install, learn and use. And OS/2 comes with a collection of support services, including a toll-free number. But maybe the best part is that instead of buying DOS, Windows and other software to get more out of your computer, you get them all with OS/2. So for a whole lot less, OS/2 gives you a whole lot more.

That's why over 2 million copies of OS/2 were sold during its first nine months and why hundreds of hardware vendors and thousands of software developers are supporting it. And now version 2.1 is available with even more features and even better performance.

  • OS/2 is Versatile: It runs virtually all DOS, Windows & OS/2 applications from a single system. OS/2 2.1 adds support for Windows 3.1 and Windows Enhanced Mode applications. You can even run Standard Mode and Enhanced Mode applications at the same time.
  • OS/2 is Fast: It makes the most of your 32-bit hardware (Intel 386 SX and above). OS/2 removes the memory limitations of DOS and gives your programs more space to grow. By using your disk drive and virtual storage technology, OS/2 lets your application programs think they each have up to 512 million bytes of memory, and it does it automatically. OS/2 runs the fastest 32-bit applications and the older 16-bit DOS and Windows applications. In general, it runs them as fast or faster than under DOS or Windows.
  • OS/2 is Simple: OS/2 includes the Workplace Shell, a state-of-the-art graphical interface that is easier to learn and use than other graphical windowing systems. But if you are already a Windows user and don't want to take time learning a new interface, you can start any of your DOS, Windows or OS/2 programs from a familiar Windows interface. As you learn more about the Workplace Shell, however, you'll likely make the switch to improved productivity.
  • OS/2 is Technically Superior: OS/2 has been praised for its Preemptive Multitasking, Overlapped I/O, High Performance File System, and Crash Protection. Although most of the application examples used in this paper can be done today on DOS and Windows, this paper should show why OS/2 is a superior environment for running those applications.
  • OS/2 2.1 includes built-in Multimedia Support: It accommodates popular sound cards and CD-ROM drives and includes software to support audio (record & play), and software motion video (play).

If your computer has a 386 SX or better, you should consider OS/2 2.1 so you can exploit the 32-bit power you paid for. With OS/2 you can finally do the only thing you haven't been able to do with your computer - make the most of it.

OS/2's reliable multitasking lets you leave your system powered on with your favorite applications just an icon away while service applications (such as fax & phone mail and energy & security management) run in the background. And OS/2 runs well on most of the current systems being sold, since they are typically 386 or 486-based.

A Vision of Home Computing Today

Today's Advantages for the Work-at-Home Office

For the many people who work out of their home, OS/2 provides an ideal operating environment for productive multitasking. For others, who buy a home computer so they can bring office work home and spend more time with their family, OS/2 offers the freedom to run the DOS or Windows applications that you might already have at home as well as the OS/2 applications that you run at the office - or the power to try new OS/2 applications at home while your office mates still trudge along with DOS or Windows.

Choosing Application Software

OS/2 comes with a collection of applications and games that provides instant productivity. They include a basic spreadsheet, database, graphics editor, calculator, calendar, daily planner, communications program, and more. And you can choose from the vast selection of supported software.

  • DOS applications (30,000+)
  • Windows applications (7,000+)
  • 16-bit OS/2 applications (2,500+)
  • 32-bit OS/2 applications (1,300+)

The leading categories of application software haven't changed in years. The top five (in order of popularity) still include Word Processing, Database Management, Presentation Graphics, Spreadsheet, and Accounting/Budgeting. Application software can be found today for everything from writing a business plan to managing sales, advertising and personnel. Although new 32-bit applications are available in all major categories, you may have existing preferences or a need to run older 16-bit applications. OS/2 lets you protect past investments while moving forward with new technologies.

When selecting OS/2 applications some people will choose an integrated package such as PFS: Works.(2) Others will choose individual packages from a consistent family, such as that provided by Computer Associates.(3) And still others will select best of breed packages in each application category, such as Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect.(4) But perhaps the most exciting applications are those new ones written from ground up to exploit the advanced 32-bit power of OS/2. DeScribe is such an application. If you desire an OS/2 application that combines advanced word processing functions with powerful desktop publishing features and extensive drawing capabilities, there's really just one word to know - DeScribe.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Whether it is facsimile or data, communications is one of the most compelling reasons for OS/2's multitasking features. OS/2 lets you send or receive a fax, down-load mail or programs from a BBS, and even run your own BBS in the background -- all while doing other PC tasks such as writing a letter or printing in the foreground.

ELECTRONIC MAIL

Forget printing, stuffing envelopes, licking stamps, frantically running to the post office, and paying for overnight services to meet a deadline. With a modem and E-mail (as with fax) you can send memos, letters, and other information to your clients or suppliers around the world and around the clock -- at 3:00 a.m. if you like. With a press of a key, your message is signed, sealed and delivered to the right person, on time. E-mail can be a real time, money and aggravation saver. You can use services like MCI Mail to send to large distribution lists of other E-mail users and non-E-mail users, in which case MCI can convert your documents to fax or printed form using your company letter-head.

ON-LINE SERVICES

In addition to sending mail electronically, you can also tap into large libraries of on-line information to read the day's news, see the latest stock quotes, reserve an airline ticket, do your banking, and order anything from office supplies to a new wardrobe. You can even turn your own PC into an on-line service or bulletin board system (BBS), letting other PC users access your inventory, products or information and place orders. When selecting a modem to connect to an on-line service like CompuServe, Prodigy or America On-line, modem speed and data compression are primary factors.

ADVANCED TELEPHONE FEATURES

You can use your PC and modem to add convenience features to your telephone. These include auto-dialing, automatic call back of busy numbers, activity reporting (especially useful if billing for your time), and caller identification (requires a phone line feature) to display the database record of the person who is calling or to screen out unwanted calls.

VOICE MAIL

More of today's work-at-home offices include telephone answering machines (66%) than include PCs (51.3%).(5) For business use, the inexpensive models that record on magnetic tape suffer from a lack of important features (e.g. ability to keep some messages and erase others). Digital answering machines address some of these issues but are costly, as much as $200. With a PC and OS/2 there's another alternative. Some of today's modems combine data, fax and voice functions and let the one-person home office compete with the big guys. Voice Mail replaces the tape answering machine that doesn't cut it for business use. People expect lots of choices ("press 1 for customer service; 2 for sales; 9 for world peace"). Data/fax/voice modems are available from vendors such as AT&T, Micronix, and IBM(6) (see below) and cost as little as $399 including software.

FACSIMILE

Stand-alone fax machines are another popular investment for the home office, but rather than rush out and spend $400 for a low-cost fax machine (or up to $3000 for one with rich features), consider a fax modem instead. A fax modem does everything that regular modems do, like connecting you to services such as Prodigy, CompuServe or bulletin boards. But it also sends and receives faxes. When sending a fax straight from your PC application, however, the quality is much better than sending from a fax machine. It's almost as good as a laser printer. So now your PC can serve as a top-of-the-line plain-paper fax machine capable of sending dozens of faxes with the push of a button. And best of all, it will cost you less than a traditional fax machine -- under $150 for the software or $300 for adapter card and software.

Some sample products include:

  • BitFax for OS/2, $99 software from Bit Software, Inc. (408-263-2197)
  • FaxWorks for OS/2, $149 software from SofNet (800-432-9967)
  • Fax/PM, from Microformatic USA (203-644-1708)
  • Home Office, $299 retail from Prometheus Products (modem & software)
  • WinFax PRO, $119 software from Delrina Technology

These products offer a variety of rich features including sending faxes with your letterhead and signatures. Getting them into your system the first time is easy. Just use a fax machine to send your stationery to yourself. When broadcasting group faxes, each could have a different message on the cover sheet and the entire job can be scheduled for midnight when long distance rates are lower. Incoming faxes can be forwarded to another machine when you are not there to receive them. And OCR (optical character recognition) software can convert fax images into editable text that takes less hard disk space to store and 50% less time to print.

But there are some (usually minor) drawbacks. You won't be able to send original paper documents without also buying a scanner and going through the extra step of scanning the document into the PC. And faxes, especially those with lots of graphics, takes up lots of disk space. You'll likely want to delete fax images once they are printed. In general though, you'll get more fax features with a PC than with a stand-alone unit, and you'll be able to do some neat tricks that just aren't possible otherwise.

FAX-ON-DEMAND

This technology is a merger of telephony, fax, and database applications and was once only affordable by large companies. Your customers can now dial into your PC to "request" specific fax documents. Recorded telephone messages prompt the user to select document numbers through the telephone key-pad, then ask for the phone number of their fax machine, and finally faxes the documents automatically. Two examples of software to create fax-on-demand systems include:

  • FaxForward, $1,495-2,495 from Computer Systems Integration, Inc. (401-331-1117)
  • Open+Fax, $1,795 from Open+Voice, Inc. (214-497-9022)

FAMILY ADVISOR

There are many PC programs available that play an advisory role. They cover financial Issues (budgets, taxes, estate planning, net worth...), legal Issues (writing wills, lease contracts...), medical Issues (first aid, diet and exercise planning...), home Repair, trip Planning, general reference, etc.

Again, most of these programs can run under DOS or Windows, but OS/2's multitasking can make using them more convenient. OS/2 can also make it easier to exchange information between programs, using techniques such as cut & paste, dynamic data exchange (DDE), object linking and embedding (OLE), and more. That's one reason IBM calls OS/2 "The Integrating Platform."

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

This is a class of home application that is used to write checks, manage budgets, and gather data for taxes. Examples include Managing Your Money, Microsoft Money, and Quicken. Information is entered only once, instead of being written on the check and then into the check register. The system keeps track of repetitive payments to make even that one entry easier.

Newer printers allow you to insert single checks from your check book, so you don't even need special forms if you want the computer to print your checks for you. With the right printer, you won't have to change printer paper.

Although this kind of application can run under DOS or Windows and use any printer, you'll find that it becomes easier to justify and a joy to use if you choose the right printer and leave the system powered on with OS/2 and the application started and waiting in the background - waiting to write your next check.

ON-SCREEN REMINDER SYSTEM

One of the most important things needed for the productive home-office is self-discipline. OS/2 can't substitute for this personal trait, but it can help. It comes packaged with alarms, a calendar, a daily planner and an electronic sticky pad. And if you are already used to using the basic calendar that comes with Windows, you'll find that included with OS/2 too. These simple tools can prove useful for an individual who has his office at home or a family that needs to post messages and reminders to each other. So, you may never miss another birthday or anniversary.

EDUCATION AND GAMES

Freedom of choice is an advantage when selecting business software and an for educational software and games too. While you use the PC for business, your children can use it to create their own music videos, take imaginary trips down the Amazon, or practice economic skills by running a dinosaur theme park. All this in the name of education.

Textbook publishers are starting to produce software alternatives as big states like California and Texas begin allowing textbook budgets to be spent on software. Optical Data's Windows on Science, a videodisc-based science program, was adopted by the state of Texas in 1990 as a textbook alternative. And California has put out a framework for education that requires technology to be integrated with any printed material, especially in math, by 1995.

Unlike school software, however, home education products must compete with all other things a kid could be doing - like watching TV, playing video games, even reading a book. Home software must be fun or it will become shelfware. By exploiting today's computer hardware, advanced graphics and sound, new programs (like Davidson's Math Blaster, which lets kids solve math problems by blasting numbers out of the sky) have given birth to the new term "edutainment" to describe software that both teaches and entertains.(7)

MULTIMEDIA

Two of the most exciting technologies to affect education are multimedia and the optical compact disk (CD-ROM). The CD-ROM drive can play music from audio CDs and can also access up to 600 MB of data on computer CDs. With access to so much storage, the games and educational software delivered on CD are rich in exciting images, digitized voice and music, animated graphics, and even TV-like video. Because entire multimedia encyclopedias can now fit on a single compact disk, more electronic encyclopedias are sold today than printed ones.

OS/2 is an ideal environment for running your DOS games and multimedia applications, especially if something else needs to run as well (like fax or voice mail). It effectively supports the heavy demands of sound, image, animation and video that weren't even considered when DOS was written. Unlike word processors and other business software that gracefully wait until their turn to use the central processor, multimedia applications can't tolerate delays without a loss in presentation quality. Video must be delivered fast enough to not appear jerky, and sound must be synchronized with the action. OS/2 supports preemptive multitasking that can guarantee responsiveness to your multimedia applications so you don't have to dedicate your computer to running a single program.

With the release of OS/2 2.1, Multimedia Presentation Manager/2 (MMPM/2) is packaged with OS/2. It supports a wide variety of CD-ROM drives and sound cards and can even handle concurrent use of the sound card by game and music software so you can listen to Mozart and the sound effects of your action game at the same time. And it comes with a collection of sounds that are associated with system events such as opening or closing a window, picking up or dropping an object, and information or warning messages, thus transforming the OS/2 desktop into a multimedia-enabled workplace.

MUSIC EDUCATION

You would like Johnny to learn piano, so you buy an electronic piano keyboard, and a software package is provided which teaches music theory & composition, stores songs, prints sheet music from the score, and electronically scans in sheet music converting it to MIDI formats for editing and playback in CD quality.(8) (see below)

GRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

OS/2 can help when working with computer graphics. Graphic files with high resolution and lots of colors can be quite large. Editing them can require lots of storage, often more than DOS allows, especially if you have any special device drivers. OS/2 gives your DOS applications access to more storage, making new functions possible and improving the performance of existing functions. OS/2-specific applications have access to even more memory and can benefit from 32-bit performance and virtual storage.

The Kodak Photo-CD lets you take your 35mm film to be processed and get back the prints and an optical disk with digitized images. The images can be read from a CD-ROM XA drive and displayed on your computer. You can even edit copies of the pictures and print them or include them in documents. With Kodak's exciting new technology and a CD-ROM XA drive, the power of multimedia is available to anyone with a camera.

VIDEO AND TV

Add-on products like IBM's PS/2 TV let you view TV broadcasts in a window or full screen on your computer monitor. You can simultaneously connect to your telephone and TV cable to check the morning news and weather on Prodigy while watching The Today Show in a TV window.

OS/2 2.1 includes built-in support of a new type of video, called digital video, with no need for additional hardware. In contrast to analog video (e.g. TV broadcasts), digital video lets you electronically retrieve and play video clips from your hard disk or CD, access digital interactive TV for education and games, or participate in a video conference with someone anywhere in the world. Advances in communication speeds promise to make video conferencing a mainstream application, letting you spend more time with your family or giving you more choice over where you live.

SPECIAL NEEDS

For most people, technology makes things easier. For the disabled, technology makes things possible. The PC can be the window to much of the world for the blind and others with vision problems, and it offers new hope to the deaf, the voiceless, slow learners, the mentally retarded, to people with brain injuries, and -- most dramatically -- to those contending with severe mobility problems.(9) When the appropriate equipment is attached to a PC, these people can control their environment and communicate with virtually anyone with little or no assistance.

A wide array of products already exist to aid the disabled, including systems that talk, listen, teach, communicate and translate for the user. Although most of these products are designed for DOS, OS/2 lets them work together with other applications. Grandfather, for example, has difficulty reading a news paper because of his failing eye sight. With OS/2 and Prodigy, he can download and read his personalized "electronic" newspaper, specially enlarged and displayed on a big screen that has been customized with his favorite colors and large fonts.

Combined with voice recognition and home automation (see Home Network and Automation), the PC also recognizes Grandfather's spoken commands so he doesn't have to get up to turn on the lights or make a phone call.

VOICE RECOGNITION

IBM's desktop dictation technology provides the most accurate and sophisticated speech recognition capabilities available today. Featuring a 20,000 word vocabulary, it takes dictation at a throughput of more than 70 words per minute. What makes it unique is its use of advanced algorithms, developed by IBM Research, to analyze acoustical data and word sequences to correctly choose between like-sounding words, such as "to," "two" and "too" or "our" and "hour," and to recognize the start of a sentence and provide capitalization. In addition, IBM's desktop dictation technology has navigation capabilities which let users use voice commands to move around within their document or the system while dictating. You can control the operation of your PC using voice commands and a microphone (next is telephone and intercom).

With voice recognition you can dictate your letters (or even a book) instead of typing them. When combined with voice synthesis software, you could call your computer to request that your electronic mail or faxes be read to you over the phone and then dictate your response, which is sent as if you had typed it.

LANGUAGE TRANSLATION

Within five years, we'll also start to see the impact of real-time language translation. This future technology will let you talk to someone in Mexico who doesn't speak or understand English. The computer will be your translator. But this is FUTURE and belongs in the next section. OS/2 is TODAY.

---

2   PFS: Works for OS/2, from Spinnaker Software Corp, takes
    full advantage of OS/2's power and function and retails for just $149.
3   Computer Associates has a popular line of productivity
    and business software for Windows. Although these
    packages can already run under OS/2, CA is rebuilding
    their entire line to better exploit the power of OS/2.
4   Again you will find that the DOS and Windows versions
    run under OS/2, but the  OS/2  versions  exploit  unique
    OS/2  functions  for added power and convenience.  As an
    example, WordPerfect 5.2  for  OS/2  comes  filled  with
    best-of-breed  features  and  advanced  Workplace  Shell
    integration.     And  with  OS/2,   you   can   exchange
    information  between applications that never knew they'd
    be working together, so the new ones you buy  will  work
    with the old ones you already have.
5   Link Resources.
6   For just $399, the IBM Mwave WindSurfer Communications
    Adapter utilizes Mwave technology to consolidate the
    separate data/FAX modem and voice messaging & telephone
    answering functions into a single add-in card with
    supporting software  for  the  DOS/Windows  environment.
    Even greater benefits for the home-office, however, will
    come with planned OS/2 support and the programmability
    of the Mwave Digital Signal Processor (DSP) developed by
    IBM, Texas Instruments and Intermetrics. Because the
    DSP is programmable, the WindSurfer can acquire new
    functions through software upgrades.  Functions such  as
    higher   speed   modems,   stereo  sound,  MIDI,  speech
    recognition, text-to-speech, image
    compression/decompression and even motion video
    acceleration are possible without changing the hardware.
7   "Computer Letter," May 24, 1993, v9 n17, p. 1-7.
8   The IBM WindSurfer provides CD quality stereo sound with
    sample rates up  to  44.1  KHz.    Its  state-of-the-art
    Musical  Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) sound comes
    from digital samples of actual  instruments  instead  of
    the  combination  of  noises  to  make  music,  a common
    technique used in today's sound boards.
9   IBM's National  Support   Center   for   Persons   with
    Disabilities  was  created  to  help  professionals  and
    others learn how computers can enhance the work and life
    styles of people with disabilities.  To visit the Center
    or for more information, call 1-800-426-2133 (voice)  or
    1-800-284-9482 (TDD).

A Vision of Home Computing Tomorrow

Tomorrow's Promise for the "Electronic Home"

The previous section covered what can easily be done today. In this section, we'll look at the future of home computing, knowing that some of the applications are already in use by early adopters today and that others are still in development.

Home Network and Automation

Children studying for school on the PCs in their room share information with the master PC in the den. From their PC, they can print on the downstairs printer, or use its modem to access Prodigy and dial into vast libraries, or access its CD-ROM drive and multimedia encyclopedia. Today, they may use DOS or Windows on desktop PCs and connect via an unused phone line, but soon they'll use sub-notebook systems and wireless networks. You too will use sub-notebook or hand-held computers and wirelessly connect to mail services or your home computer, keeping in touch anytime and anywhere you happen to be.

But your home network can connect more than just personal computers. It can also include an array of intelligent devices for complete home automation. As appliances gain computer intelligence, the differences between PC and intelligent device will blur. You'll likely see PC technology in televisions and could even see it built into the refrigerator door. Wouldn't it be neat to network your bathroom scale to the refrigerator, automatically locking the fridge door if your weight exceeds a preset limit? I'm just kidding, although that may not be a bad idea. Here is a sample of what "is" possible with today's technology.

Adrian, our 9 year old, is watching the TV in the den while gathering goodies from the kitchen. When he takes his snack to his room, the TV in his room turns on to the same channel, and the TV in the den turns off. When it's study time, he's not allowed access to the TV at all. The rest of the time he can watch programming that has been selected for him, such as The Discovery Channel. And certain channels, such as HBO or MTV have been reserved as rewards, to be paid for with earned credits. If Adrian doesn't get home from school on time and enter his security code, we get an automatic phone call.

During the week, Yvonne and I go to bed about 11:00 PM after watching the news. Before retiring, we use a telephone key pad (or intercom with voice recognition) to start a script of commands that turns off the TV, arms the security system, puts the lighting into sleep mode, and sets the thermostat. If Yvonne gets up at 2:00 AM to get a cold drink from the kitchen, the security system tracks her movement and turns lights on in front of her and off behind her. If the system had detected an unexpected presence (a potential burglar), it would have tripped an alarm and announced the likely point of break in.

In the morning, a second script starts at a pre-set time, turns up the thermostat and hot water heater, turns on the bathroom lights, opens the curtains to let the light in, and wakes Yvonne and I with our favorite music. I respond with a command, "Computer, Access Calendar," and voice recognition software responds to my command to access today's activities, and then "reads" them through the intercom speaker. I might then ask for yesterday's articles on IBM, the status of stocks I'm tracking, or a summary of my net worth.

I control the operation of my house the same way that I control other PC programs. For example I might use the mouse, icon objects, and drag & drop capabilities of OS/2's WorkPlace Shell to re-program home automation tasks. First I click on the House icon, which brings up a scanned-in picture of our floor plan. Then I click on the master bedroom, which zooms in with more detail so I can select both lamps on either side of the bed. The right mouse button shows the functions of the lamp objects in the same way that it shows the functions of all other objects in OS/2. Instead of using a mouse, I could also control my PC or house with a keyboard, touch screen or voice commands.

The computer now acts as my partner and advisor, letting me spend more time with family while helping me improve business effectiveness. And I have more control of where and when I work and live.

These Home Automation benefits have long been available for technofanatics willing to pay $20,000 to $200,000. Now it is possible, at reasonable prices, to link once separate

              systems    (telephony,    security,    voice    recognition,
              heating/cooling,    lighting    and    appliance    control,
              audio/visual,  etc.)    into  an  integrated whole -- a Home
              Network.  And Home Automation saves money,  cutting  utility
              bills an average of 20% - 30%.(10)
              If  the  PC  plays  a  role  in home automation today, it is
              typically just to program a  stand-alone  controller  device
              and  then disconnect.  That's because of the relatively high
              cost of dedicating a PC to control and monitoring functions.
              But with a multitasking operating system  (OS/2)  and  a  PC
              that  is  already  purchased for other functions, it becomes
              easier to justify having the PC play a greater  role.    One
              advantage  of  using the PC as home automation controller is
              the ability to include artificial intelligence  features  so
              your  system learns your habits and acts accordingly, making
              useful suggestions.   Another advantage is  the  ability  to
              access more information (e.g. weather and utility rates that
              may  change  hourly)  so  it  can better determine the least
              expensive time to water the  lawn  or  run  the  washer  and
              dryer.

HIGH SPEED COMMUNICATIONS

Key to our nation's success in the Industrial Age was a transportation system that moved raw materials to factories and then on to consumers. As we move through the Information Age, our success depends on a communications system based on an "information highway," as proposed by the Clinton Administration. High speed communications will be one of the most important technologies for the future. It will affect how we live, where we live and the landscape of our cities, just as electricity did in the early 1900s.

Our grandparents may have had electric lights, but there were few electric motors. Nothing to spin the laundry or run the dish washer or play the VCR. So they couldn't imagine how air conditioning and elevators would bring people together into tall buildings. Today, we are just starting to imagine the impact of personal computing and high speed communications.

The nation is being rewired with fiber optics. When you see cable companies digging up the street, you can bet they are laying new fiber, and the same goes for telephone companies. We expect to see multi-gigabit/sec phone lines in the mid-90's and speeds measured in terabits/sec by the year 2000. (At 1 Tbit/sec, you could ship the Encyclopedia Britanica in 1.5 milliseconds!).

INTERACTIVE TV

The fiber that eventually finds its way into your home will carry all kinds of information services (telephone, newspaper, home shopping, home banking, mail, etc), but the most compelling application is likely to be Interactive TV.

Cable companies want to replace movie rental companies, giving you the ability to select from thousands of titles for viewing when you want to instead of when they are broadcast, pausing for breaks when you want to instead of when the networks decide to. As you might imagine, rental companies like Block Buster Video and networks like CBS and NBC view this as competition and opportunity. But consider the benefits to the consumer:

  • ELECTRONIC TV GUIDE: Downloaded to your PC once a week, the electronic TV guide helps you find your way through the greatly expanded collection of programming that has become available. You search through available programs by key word and schedule automatic video taping of your favorites. You'll be guided along by your computer with new user interfaces that make programming today's VCR seem like programming computers in COBOL, and your PC will learn your preferences and make appropriate suggestions.
  • INTERACTIVE TV EDUCATION: Students can participate in
                  interactive education through their TV, having access to
                  the  world's  best  specialists in their field of study.
                  Teachers can reach  more  students,  and  students  have
                  access  to more teachers and subject experts. Multimedia
                  and the ability  to  pull  the  best  teachers  together
                  electronically  can  enrich  the  learning  process  and
                  better prepare our  children  to  compete  in  a  global
                  society and do this at less cost.
              o   SEARCH,  CUT  &  PASTE:   Johnny can search for specific
                  still images or video clips for a book report using  key
                  words and hyperlinks.  He then pastes the image or video
                  into   his   document.      His  "report"  is  submitted
                  electronically, and the teacher clicks  on  an  icon  to
                  view the video.
              o   JUST-IN-TIME  EDUCATION:   You can view portions of "how
                  to" videos right when you need them and  without  having
                  to view the entire video, just the part about fixing the
                  leak  under the sink.  If you need more help, you can be
                  connected to an expert through video conferencing.
              o   VIDEO CONFERENCING:   You initially were  excited  about
                  the  potential  need  for  less business travel, but you
                  discover that the real benefit is your ability to  bring
                  collections  of  experts  together  more quickly.   This
                  gives you a competitive edge -- from your home, which is
                  now on the beach or in  the  mountains.    Some  of  the
                  experts  you include in your conference don't even speak
                  English, but their PCs translate for them.  You  realize
                  that  you  are no longer constrained to hire talent from
                  within a limited geography but have access to the world.
                  The  result  is  that  nations  who   succeed   in   the
                  Information Age are the ones who had vision and invested
                  in infrastructure -- "The Information Highway."
              "Wo  ha!   Let's get back down to earth!  Is all this really
              going to happen?" you say.  Yep... and more, but  your  mind
              may already be spinning (mine is).

STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

Change of this magnitude brings large challenges, many in the area of standards. IBM is committed to industry standards and currently sits on over 3500 standards committees around the world. With all of the arguments over standards and who has access to the fiber, the FCC still has not yet decided who will get the right to bring it into your home and what services will be allowed on it. The politics are overwhelming, as are the opportunities. At stake are the fortunes of companies and the viability of nations.

DEVELOPING APPLICATIONS WITH REUSABLE OBJECTS

Hardware technology is coming at us so fast that one thing's for sure: Software will have a hard time keeping up if we develop it like we have in the past. Fortunately, the industry is moving to the use of reusable and interchangeable objects (e.g. object-oriented programming), much like interchangeable parts for cars. Objects can represent program segments (such as a video player), data files (the compressed video), or hardware devices (e.g. a wall switch). You can combine objects to make new objects to perform specific services, such as downloading various pieces of information from Prodigy each morning and presenting it in the format you like, or making it available for programmed tasks (e.g. water the lawn at 4:00 AM if it is dry and no rain is predicted).

We'll soon see tools that make it easy for many PC users to create their own applications, simply by dragging objects around on the screen and connecting them. You'll be able to combine your favorite word processor object and favorite spell checker (from different vendors and written in different computer languages). You'll then select a graphics conversion utility and a drawing tool and a business graphics engine that can be linked to a spreadsheet. With access to hundreds of fonts and clip art from several types of libraries, you put your presentation together to be shown with a presentation tool from even another vendor. It all snaps together seemlessly and you have made your customized version of -- Lotus Freelance. Lotus and WordPerfect and others will sell class libraries of reusable objects so you can pick and choose. You'll be able to access objects that are stored on your own system or ones that are stored on some remote system on a different kind of computer.

IBM has a powerful, open, distributed object strategy for the future and a defined platform in OS/2 for object exploitation today with the Workplace Shell, System Object Module (SOM) and Distributed SOM (DSOM). Our technology is being developed with partners like Apple, HP and Sun, is being shared with standards bodies, and is consistent with CORBA of OMG (Common Object Request Broker Architecture, endorsed by the Object Management Group).


10  "Smart Houses: Getting Switched On," Business Week, June 28, 1993, p.128.

Happy Home Computing Requirements

This section describes how to implement the dream with the least effort. IBM's vision of the future of home computing isn't that much different from that of a dozen other companies. What is different is how it takes you from today's realities to tomorrow's promise. OS/2 is a key part of IBM's software plan for delivering that promise. It improves the quality of the journey by eliminating many of the pains, migrations, upgrades, and relearning that you might otherwise expect.

MULTITASKING

Because users should not have to turn off their fax and voicemail applications or shut down their security system in order to write a letter, this is the #1 requirement for the Vision portrayed here. OS/2 offers fast and safe multitasking so you don't have to wait on your computer and so you can make these visions become real.

COMPATIBILITY WITH YOUR PC HARDWARE AND APPLICATIONS

Because people don't like too much change, however, any new operating system must be compatible with existing hardware and applications. For this reason, IBM has tested OS/2 on hundreds of 32-bit IBM-compatible computers and offers a money-back guarantee if it won't run on yours, given enough memory and disk. OS/2 comes with more than 260 printer device drivers for all of the leading printers. It supports all of the most popular CD-ROM drives and their associated SCSI adapters. Leading audio/sound adapters are also supported.(11)

OS/2 excels in application compatibility too, with its ability to run virtually any DOS or Windows or OS/2 application. It also has a strong evolutionary future that lets you expand your system without constant upgrades to application software.

EASE OF LEARNING AND USE

The user interface must be intuitive and easy to use, because the biggest barrier to wide-spread use of personal computers has been the effort to learn and apply the technology. We've come a long way since the DOS prompt (C:>), with graphical user interfaces. OS/2 goes further still and sets new standards for ease of learning and use, with its object-oriented user interface. Objects on the OS/2 desktop (folders, files, printers, disk drives, etc.) act just like everyday objects. To print a file, just drag it over to the printer; to put it away, drag it into a folder; to delete it, drag it to the shredder. OS/2 users LOVE OS/2!

"I find this system so convenient and uncomplicated to use that most of my time is spent fighting my SEVEN YEAR OLD son for control of my computer. I feel that IBM has once again proven that it is not only the front runner of microcomputer technology, but also the trail blazer of times to come!" DONALD K. CHAMPINE, SECURITY PACIFIC AUTOMATION COMPANY, INC. IN SEATTLE, WA.

EASE OF INSTALLATION

New system software should also be easy to install with minimal training. Ideally there would be no training required for family members, and OS/2 lives up to that ideal. It is important, however, to have someone technical enough to take charge of installing and setting up the

              system for other family members.  When installing  OS/2  for
              the first time, some have described the experience like that
              of  moving into a new house.  "There are always a few things
              that take a while to find, but the pain of  moving  is  soon
              forgotten and well worth the benefit."
              OS/2  2.1  ships on over 20 diskettes (or on CD-ROM), and no
              matter what IBM does, this still seems overwhelming to  many
              potential  users.    IBM  is  evaluating various options for
              turn-key packages for the  home  markets,  recognizing  that
              delivering  the  Vision of this paper requires more computer
              skill than we'd like.
              Currently, the easiest way to  install  OS/2  is  to  buy  a
              system  that has it pre-installed.  If you are buying from a
              retail store  today,  the  systems  you'll  find  with  OS/2
              pre-installed may be IBM systems, but we are now seeing more
              PC  manufacturers  willing  to pre-install OS/2 upon request
              and hope to see this as a standard practice in the future.

LEAVING YOUR PC UP AND RUNNING

Rather than turning on your PC, running your application, and turning it off, you might decide to just keep it on with your favorite applications already started and running. This is especially attractive when running a sophisticated system like OS/2 (or DOS with Windows and lots of other extensions) because of the time to boot up.

CHOOSING THE LOCATION OF YOUR PC

Where you put your computer depends on its intended use and users. Because 75% of PC-owning households are work-at-home households, many people put their PC in a home-office. That can be a spare room, a corner of a room, or even a large closet. A home-office can provide privacy and a way to hide office clutter while protecting equipment and work in process. And when company calls, just close the door. This works especially well if you are the only person who will use the system and may be required if you want to take an income tax deduction for home-office expenses.

If, however, you put your system out in the open (e.g. den or kitchen)(12) and leave it always powered on and ready to use, you should find new uses... and new users -- the whole family. This is ideal if your objective is kids education, family entertainment, managing health and finances, or home automation.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT HARDWARE

SIZE - One way to save space and avoid conflicts with home decor is with the new notebook PCs. They can also be moved into a quiet room for privacy, possibly eliminating the need for a dedicated home-office. Besides being portable, they are smaller, quieter, and consume less power than desktop PCs; and they have suspend/resume features. Rather than close your OS/2 applications and turn off the power, you can simply close the cover of the notebook, putting the system into "suspend mode" and saving energy. Opening the cover brings the system back to life with all of your applications loaded and running, just like you left them. Newer desktop PCs may have similar suspend/resume features that cause them to use less power during periods of inactivity and "wake up" when input is sensed (from keyboard, mouse, fax, etc).

Many people will choose desktop PCs instead of notebook PCs because of larger hard disks, more expansion slots or lower cost (especially when fitted with a color monitor). Some will choose to have both and may even want them to communicate in a network.

MEMORY & DISK -- OS/2 offers a lot of power and function but does require more memory and disk than native DOS. OS/2 can support simple DOS applications with as little as 4 megabytes (MB) of memory, but Windows users will be more satisfied with 8MB or more. And OS/2 needs 15 to 40 MB(13) of available disk space for all of its function, on-line documentation, built-in applications, and scalable type fonts. Almost all systems sold today are already OS/2 capable, and some have OS/2 pre-loaded.

                   "I was reluctant to move to OS/2 2.0, but now  I  can't
                   imagine  using  anything else.  If you have the horses,
                   you're crazy not to try it, folks, no matter what  they
                   say.    It  takes  55  minutes  to install, and if your
                   hardware can handle it, the  software  is  rock  solid,
                   just  like  the  OS/2  nutballs say it is...   It's not
                   particularly fun to tell  these  guys  that  they  were
                   right." JOHN C. DVORAK, PC MAGAZINE, AUGUST 1992.
              PROCESSOR -- By "horses," John Dvorak is referring to memory
              and  disk  storage,  as  OS/2  doesn't  have  the  voracious
              appetite for processor speed that  Windows  has,  thanks  to
              genuine  preemptive multithreading.  Processor speed is less
              of an issue when you don't have to wait for one  application
              to complete before moving on to the next and when background
              applications   don't   interfere   with  the  useability  of
              foreground applications as they do with Windows.  While some
              people always want the fastest computer they can buy, others
              believe that because of OS/2, the muscle computer  could  go
              the way of the muscle car.
                   "Today it's not important how well your automobile runs
                   at  120  MPH,  but  how  well it does at 55.  OS/2 will
                   allow  productivity  to  be  measured  in  multitasking
                   versatility,  not  sheer  velocity."  EDWIN BLACK, OS/2
                   PROFESSIONAL, NOVEMBER 1992.
              SUPPORT -- When users run their home-office or  entire  home
              on  a  PC, support can become critical and vendor reputation
              deserves strong consideration.  Now you can buy PCs from IBM
              and Apple at Sears instead of Zeos and Gateway  through  the
              mail.


              BACKUP AND RECOVERY


              Your  PC  is likely the most important piece of equipment in
              your home-office, so take care of it and backup your  system
              faithfully.    Neglecting this important rule is common with
              DOS and  Windows  users,  because  when  backup  is  running
              nothing  else  does.   With OS/2 it is easier.  As expected,
              OS/2 comes with backup and restore utilities.   They can  be
              used  to backup parts of your system while you work actively
              on other parts.  Or you can choose add-on products that make
              backup even easier and support a wide  variety  of  devices,
              such as diskette, 4mm Digital Audio Tape, 8mm tape, and 3.5"
              rewritable optical disks.(14)


              DON'T FORGET INSURANCE


              Another way  of  protecting  yourself  and  your  home-based
              business  is  with insurance.  Homeowner and renter policies
              can cover your computer equipment and software for a  modest
              additional  premium.    They  are often limited to $5,000 or
              $10,000 which should be enough for most home offices but may
              may  not  be  enough  for a sophisticated one, including its
              software.  In any case, check with your insurance company.


              PREPARING FOR SCHEDULING CONFLICTS


              You can  encourage  PC  use  and  increase  PC  benefits  by
              matching  convenience with the excitement and power of OS/2.
              Even small families, however, should prepare for  scheduling
              conflicts  as described by OS/2 users.  They say it's like a
              late model sports car with  an  innovative  new  body  on  a
              racing chassis and with an awesome new turbo-charged engine.
              As  such, it surpasses the popular windowing systems such as
              Microsoft Windows that simply put  a  new  body  over  DOS's
              Volkswagen  engine.  When you get familiar with working with
              OS/2 and past the "ah-ha" stage, you too will find that OS/2
              is a dream to drive.  And just like the conflict  when  your
              son wants to borrow your car but you need it to run errands,
              expect  scheduling  conflicts with your PC.  You may need to
              plan your home-office  time  so  it  doesn't  conflict  with
              school  and  entertainment time (or even include a second PC
              in a network for your kids and spouse).
                   "I write to you now as a last resort.  You see, I  have
                   lost  my  boyfriend to OS/2.  For the last two weeks he
                   as been locked in the computer room as if he was a  mad
                   scientist  on  the  verge  of a momentous discovery.  I
                   knock, I pound, I whimper into  the  keyhole,  I  slide
                   notes  under the door; and to no avail...  I could hear
                   him cackling with glee and often I  heard  awe  in  his
                   voice  that sounded as if he were witnessing the second
                   coming...  I must go in after him.  Clearly this man of
                   mine cannot help himself.   The temptation of  OS/2  is
                   too  great.    He is hooked and I am the only chance he
                   has left...   If  you  can't  beat  em,  join  em!"  L.
                   CHRISTIAN CANDELMIRE, UNIVERSITY OF CA AT BERKELEY.


              ----------------
              11  Kevin Maier, "What's New in OS/2 2.1," Personal Software
                  Technical Newsletter, Issue 1 1993, p.3.
              12  A computer for  the  den  or  breakfast  room,  however,
                  should  be  small, quiet, and fit into the room's decor.
                  And a computer used for home automation to  save  energy
                  should  itself  be energy efficient.  IBM's new PS/2E is
                  an example of the first "Green PCs" to ship this summer.
                  It consumes just 23 watts of peak power and 16 watts  in
                  suspend  mode  (vs  180 watts for the average PC), so it
                  needs no noisy cooling fan.  It comes with a 10.4"  flat
                  color display (active matrix LCD, 256 color VGA) and can
                  operate  vertically  in  a  book shelf or be hung on the
                  wall.  And it's made of recyclable materials.
              13  Two   products   have   been   announced   that  support
                  "on-the-fly" disk compression.   STACKER  2.0  (by  Stac
                  Electronics)   is   available   now,   and  DCF/2  (Disk
                  Compression Facility for OS/2, by Proportional Software)
                  will be available in the second  half  of  1993.    Disk
                  compression  of  up to 50% is possible.  This means that
                  OS/2 might take just 8-20MB, and all other  applications
                  and  files  would be compressed as well.  The difference
                  between the two packages is that Stacker compresses  the
                  entire  disk  partition  (easiest), while DCF/2 lets you
                  tune  performance  by  choosing   what   is   compressed
                  (fastest,  but  slightly  more  complex).    Stacker was
                  designed for DOS and is  being  ported  to  OS/2,  while
                  DCF/2  was  designed  for OS/2 and supports both FAT and
                  HPFS file systems.
              14  Sytos  Plus,  by  Sytron Corporation, is a complete OS/2
                  backup soluiton capable of  handling  HPFS  files,  long
                  pathnames  up to 260 characters and Exteneded Attributes
                  of OS/2 files.   A  companion  product,  Sytos  Rebound,
                  extends  recovery  even further.  To find out more, call
                  1-800-3IBM-OS2 (1-800-465-7999 in Canada).

WHO WORKS AT HOME?

              When  the  bureaucracy of a large company makes it difficult
              to buy new  software  or  when  users  don't  have  time  to
              experiment, the home PC takes on a new and hidden role -- as
              a  place  to  learn  new  computer skills and to try out new
              software applications.  Even though IBM's heritage has  been
              solving  the business computing needs of large corporations,
              there is a need to understand the interests and  motivations
              of the home worker.  This is partially because user opinions
              and  preferences that affect corporate standards often start
              at home.  But interest in this market isn't just limited  to
              its  affect  on  large  corporations.    Its an exciting and
              growing market where IBM can apply leadership technologies.
              The following is from the 7th  survey  of  2,500  households
              done by  Link  Resources.(15)  It  covers  the  work-at-home
              market segment but ignores other home uses of PCs.
              THE   NEW   ENTREPRENEUR   (12.1  M  individuals  in  9.6  M
              households) -- These self-employed, full-time workers depend
              on the business they run out of their home for their primary
              income.  For this reason, they tend to spend  more  on  home
              PCs,   fax   machines   and   telephone   services  than  do
              moonlighters and corporate homeworkers.   Owning  the  right
              home-office equipment is important, and if they believe OS/2
              or  any  other  new  product  will  help bring in more cash,
              they'll buy.
              A subset of New Entrepreneur is the person who's  home-based
              business  is  fulfilling  a life long dream.  Because making
              money is relatively unimportant to them, they  tend  to  buy
              equipment  impulsively  with  little regard to its financial
              justification.
              THE CONTRIBUTOR (11.7 M individuals in 9.2 M households)  --
              This    segment    includes   people   who   are   part-time
              self-employed, who are moonlighting,  or  who  do  freelance
              work.    They  contribute  to  family income and increase in
              numbers during hard economic times in  order  to  help  make
              ends  meet.  With less earning power than New Entrepreneurs,
              Contributors tend to buy more portable PCs, but they  invest
              more cautiously.
              THE CORPORATE EAGER BEAVER (8.4 M households) -- These days,
              many  corporate employees bring work home from the office in
              the evenings or on weekends so they can compete  with  their
              peers  while  spending  more  time with their family.   Link
              Resources reports that 54% of them have a PC  at  home,  but
              since they also have access to equipment at the office, they
              tend  to  buy  only  the essentials for home.  Although some
              corporations help Eager Beavers  fund  equipment  purchases,
              most are on their own.
              A  subset  of  Corporate  Eager  Beavers  are principals and
              senior executives with large corporations.  Financially well
              off, they occasionally work from home  rather  than  in  the
              office  for  reasons  of  convenience, productivity and life
              style.  Although spending levels may vary by  industry,  PCs
              and advanced communications are essential.
              THE  TELECOMMUTER (6.6 M individuals in 4.9 M households) --
              More and more companies are allowing employees to  work  out
              of the home at least 1 day a week.  This cuts down on travel
              time,    improves   productivity   by   eliminating   office
              distractions, and lets the company keep  valuable  employees
              (such  as  new  mothers)  who  might  otherwise  quit.    By
              supporting telecommuting, companies may also have access  to
              a   larger  skill  base,  because  they  aren't  limited  by
              geography.  They often save on expensive real  estate  costs
              and  can  support a larger customer base with fewer offices.
              With a strong need to stay in touch with the company  office
              and customers, communications is extremely important.
              THE   CASUAL  HOMEWORKER  (77.3  M  individuals  in  48.7  M
              households) -- This  larger  group  brings  work  home  only
              occasionally.  Because their interest in a home PC is driven
              by  motivations  other  than work (such as kids education or
              family finance), they  are  not  included  in  most  of  the
              analysis of the Link Resources study.

15 Thomas E. Miller, "Home Office Overview," Report #01358, Link Resources Corp. (a New York based research and consulting firm), March 1993.


OTHER INTERESTING HOMEWORKER STATISTICS

              o   39.0  M Americans (out of 124.5 M USA worker population)
                  work at home part time or full time, rising to 49  M  in
                  1996.
                     -  primary self-employed   (12.1M)
                     -  part-time self-employed (11.7M, e.g. moonlighting)
                     -  corporate after-hours   (8.4M, e.g. bring work
                        home)
                     -  company telecommuter    (6.6M, e.g. formal
                        arrangement with employer)
              o   75%   of   PC-owning   households   are   "work-at-home"
                  households,  going  to  80-85% by 1995.   This has major
                  implications for applications & packaging.
              o   Home PC demand will likely be driven by:
                     -  Government incentives or requirements favoring
                        telecommuting
                     -  Corporate downsizing creating new opportunities
                        for small business
                     -  Baby boom workforce  demographics reaching prime
                        work-at-home age (35-54)
                     -  Economic  pressures to supplement income through
                        moonlighting
                     -  Family time pressures on dual-income families
                     -  Desire for more flexibility and control of family
                        and work life
                     -  Continued  ease-of-use improvements & increasing
                        computer literacy
                     -  Increases  in  portable computing and wireless
                        communications
                     -  Price/performance curve (e.g. low cost 486 systems
                        vs expensive people)
                     This  will  drive  demand  for more PC households and
                     more PCs per household.
              o   Many small businesses start in the home, and paradigms
                  start here.
                     -  20% of businesses located in office or industr ial
                        areas started in the home, including such  well
                        known companies as Apple, Dell, and Ford.
                     -  56% of ALL US businesses have less than 5
                        employees!!! (3.6 M)
                     -  20% have 6-9 employees (1.3 M)
                     -  25% have 10-100 employees (.8 M)
                     -  .01% have > 1000 employees (.006 M)
              o   1st time buyer motives:
                     70.2% for business work-at-home.  They need
                       "application suites"
                     38.5% for home finance/budgeting/taxes
                     33.7% for children's education, with increasing need
                       for multimedia
                     17.3% to learn more about computers
                     13.5% because of improved price/performance
                     11.5% because it's important to have a PC at home
                     Satisfying these demands requires bundled,
                       plug-n-play solutions (e.g. IBM PS/1, Mwave,
                       CD-ROM, and OS/2 apps).
              o   2nd time buyer motives:
                     43.9% out-growing current system capabilities
                     36.4% improved price/performance
                     Satisfying these demands requires compatibility with
                       current applications, devices & skills.
              o   Many experts say $1000 is the key price point, but
                     -  1989 average home PC = $1550
                     -  1992 average home PC = $1875, plus $962 for
                        peripherals and $416 for software ($3253 total).
                     -  PC spending increases with time spent working at
                        home
                     -  $12.3 Billion market for home-office PCs, up 27%
                        from $9.7 Billion in 1991.
                        This discounts other home PC use.
              o   Home information products now comprise 25% of ALL
                  consumer electronics.
              o   28% PC penetration (in '92), going to 32% (in '95)
              o   55% penetration for  incomes > $100K (only about 4M
                  households), but interest in PCs is increasing for lower
                  incomes ($30-100K).
              o   62.2% of home-office users run DOS applications.
              o   28.3% of home-office users run Windows applications, up
                  from 25.1% in 1991.  83.2% of Windows users said they
                  actually use it.
              o   4.0 M households have either  a  standalone or PC fax
                  device, up 82% from 2.2 M in 1991.


TECHNICAL TIPS FOR OS/2 USERS AT HOME

              I  started  my  son, Adrian, with Early Games by SpringBoard
              Software when he was 2  years  old.    I  made  a  cardboard
              template  to  cover  all but the numeric keys.  First topic:
              recognize shapes (6 vs 9, 3 vs 8, 1 vs  7)  and  names  (I'd
              pronounce   each  new  number  when  it  appeared).    Next:
              recognize values (9 is larger than 6) by counting the number
              of blocks and choosing the corresponding key.  Adrian is now
              9 and is an OS/2 user.
              Most agree that OS/2 sets new levels in ease of learning and
              use (especially for kids) and is fairly forgiving.    It  is
              still  wise,  however, to have someone set up the system for
              the rest of the family.    Here  are  some  tips  that  I've
              learned from experience and from talking to others:
              o   Small  children  make  wrong  choices on purpose (to see
                  what happens), like holding  down  the  keys  until  the
                  keyboard  buffer  fills  and the system beeps endlessly.
                  They aren't intimidated by computers.
              o   Watch out for miscellaneous objects  inserted  into  the
                  diskette  drives.   Watching me insert diskettes, my son
                  inserted keys, coins, candy, and other objects.   Assume
                  that  he'll  try  to do anything he watches you do.  The
                  diskette problem went away with  parental  guidance  and
                  computer literacy (age 3-4 in my case).
              o   Get  rid of the shredder.  Put it in the "Dad" folder or
                  delete it completely.  You don't need  it  anyway  since
                  the   right-mouse-button   menu   includes   a  "delete"
                  function.
              o   Hide things in the OS/2 System  Folder  that  you  don't
                  want  the  rest  of  the family using, such as Shredder,
                  Templates, and other items the install process  puts  on
                  the  desktop  for you.   It gets them out of the way and
                  makes the desktop cleaner.
              o   Set-up all the folders for  the  kids  and  spouse  with
                  shadows  of  the program objects.  This way even if they
                  delete  the  shadow  object,  they  won't   delete   the
                  original.
              o   Have  the  system come up with the GAMES folder open and
                  set it up with icons that children know.  I "window" the
                  DOS session long enough to "cut"  out  a  representative
                  graphics and "paste" into the icon editor.
              o   Make unique folders for each child with attractive icons
                  that let them know that this is the part of the computer
                  they  are  allowed and encouraged to use.  Put the icons
                  in an obvious place, and make the resulting folder large
                  enough to cover most of the desktop.
              o   Teach  your  child how to "shut down" and scold him when
                  he forgets.   Some  have  even  made  a  "turn  off  the
                  computer"  icon.    At  risk is that some of your system
                  changes may not be saved or that  disk  output  may  not
                  have completed yet.  Shutting down is most important for
                  users  who've  chosen  the  High Performance File System
                  (HPFS), but it's not that big of a deal  to  wait  while
                  recovering  the  Swap  file if young ones do forget, but
                  they quickly learn the rule.
                  Chuck Brazie agrees that shutting down is not a problem.
                  "My 4 year old  likes  Reader  Rabbit,  Mixed  up  Fairy
                  Tales,  the  puzzle  applet, and even playing with Corel
                  Draw.  She can shutdown the system like a champ, and she
                  waits for the 'little box to  turn  into  the  big  box'
                  before  powering  off.   The 10 year old likes Operation
                  Neptune, the Carmen  San  Diego  Series,  Mario  Teaches
                  Typing, Oregon Trail, Mahjong, and even experiments with
                  Basic and Rexx programs."
              o   Protect  your  .INI files.   Gene Fine warns that OS/2's
                  ease of  use  can  cause  curious  side  effects.    "My
                  daughter  gets  a  blast  out  of bringing up the scheme
                  palette, with the help  of  my  son,  and  changing  the
                  colors  to  those  of her likings.  One night I booted a
                  screen with Barbie colors (yuk!), a pink background, and
                  other changes."  This can be avoided by maintaining  and
                  restoring  backup copies of .INI files.  (e.g. add XCOPY
                  of .INI files in STARTUP.CMD).    There  are  also  free
                  utilities  available  on  dial-up  bulletin  boards that
                  protect against any change in the workplace shell.
              o   Pat Hammond uses multiple icons and folders to encourage
                  shared use.   "One of the games  that  our  6  year  old
                  really  likes  is  one of the coloring programs.  I have
                  set it up so two players can take turns.   All it  takes
                  is  Alt-Esc to switch between sessions.  I'm not sure if
                  she can set this up by herself or not, but once it is up
                  she  can  handle  the  switching.     I  have   separate
                  directories  for  each  child's  pictures  and  separate
                  program icons that point to each directory."
              o   One of the really nice things that can be done with OS/2
                  is  setting  up  associations,  special  links   between
                  program objects and data-file objects.  For example, you
                  can  link  the program object for a spreadsheet to every
                  spreadsheet object.  Associations can be  made  by  file
                  type or by file name (including wildcards).  You can set
                  up  *.PCW  for PC Write and *.WKS for spreadsheets.  Now
                  all the user has to do is double click on the data file,
                  and the system opens the program with data file  already
                  loaded -- true object oriented.
                  Each  family  member can have a folder with private data
                  files and won't have to worry about what command or path
                  is needed to start an application.  To work on a  letter
                  file, simply double click on the document.  To work on a
                  spreadsheet, double click.  Similarly, *.X10 can be used
                  for  appliance  controllers to let you "click" a lamp on
                  or off.


              o   From Ray Dixon:  "The AUTOSTART statement will allow you
                  to prevent things from being automatically restarted  at
                  boot  time.  Say your son had about 10 games going under
                  DOS full screens, and he didn't exit them before doing a
                  shutdown.   When you reboot,  if  AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS  is
                  set,  then all 10 copies will be restarted.  You may not
                  want that, as it  can  cause  your  boot  time  to  seem
                  longer.    To prevent this, remove the PROGRAMS from the
                  AUTOSTART statement in CONFIG.SYS."
                       SET AUTOSTART=PROGRAMS,TASKLIST,FOLDERS
              OS/2 has the power and flexibility to work like you  do,  so
              you'll  likely  discover your own setup preferences.  If you
              discover some interesting tips of your own,  please  forward
              them to the author.


CAN'T MICROSOFT WINDOWS DO THAT?

Yes. And No. Windows 3.1 can likely do any one of the applications described in this guide, but it has difficulty doing several at the same time.

              o   WORD  PROCESSING:  Long running tasks can interfere with
                  keyboarding, making text entry painfully slow.  Examples
                  include  distributing  a  fax,  formatting  a  diskette,
                  backing  up your system, down-loading a file from a BBS,
                  or simply printing.    While  performing  any  of  these
                  tasks,   delays   in   Windows  multitasking  can  cause
                  characters to display several seconds  after  you  enter
                  them,  if at all.  The user interface becomes completely
                  unresponsive and you give up and decide to  go  out  for
                  dinner.    With  OS/2,  you  can  have many active tasks
                  running, and the user interface still responds like like
                  a  champ.    You  keep  on  typing   and   admire   your
                  productivity improvement.
              o   SPREADSHEETS:   Your PC-attached CD-ROM drive is playing
                  stereo music through the sound card of your PC when  you
                  start up an Excel macro.  You wonder why the sound stops
                  (and  starts, and stops again...).  It's because Windows
                  does a poor job of multitasking compared to OS/2.   With
                  OS/2, you could have several audio sources piped through
                  the  same  or multiple sound cards while other tasks are
                  running and the music never skips a beat.
              o   GAMES:  Your 12 year old son is playing Space Quest V, a
                  DOS  game  with  impressive  graphics,  animation,   and
                  digital  sound.    The phone rings and it's an in-coming
                  fax.  While receiving the fax, the responsiveness of the
                  game goes down the toilet and your  son  hasn't  a  clue
                  why.   He starts messing around with system settings but
                  even finds that difficult and slow, so he  re-boots  the
                  system.  So much for your fax.
              o   GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT:  You've been working for hours
                  on   a   document,  spreadsheet,  or  presentation  with
                  graphics when you start another task and get the  famous
                  "General   Protection   Fault."     The  Windows  memory
                  protection feature warns you that a program  erroneously
                  accessed  memory  outside  of its own address space, but
                  this time it doesn't give you the advertised  option  of
                  closing that one application because some system control
                  blocks  were changed.   The system is locked up now, and
                  your only option is to re-boot without  the  ability  to
                  save your work.  It has been reported that Windows users
                  tend to get used to re-booting and losing data, but OS/2
                  users  often  run  for  weeks  or  months  without  even
                  shutting  down.    OS/2's  "crash  protection"   is   an
                  advantage for both home and enterprise environments.
              As  a  DOS-extender,  Windows  3.1  adds  some  amazing  new
              function to the 13-year old DOS that it relies on for input,
              output and other system functions.  OS/2, on the other hand,
              is a replacement for DOS (and Windows).   OS/2 was  designed
              for  today's  multitasking environments and provides its own
              system services.  It generally runs Windows applications  as
              fast  or  faster than Windows does and runs them with better
              safety.  Unlike Windows 3.1 or Windows NT, OS/2 lets Windows
              users run  Standard  Mode  and  Enhanced  Mode  applications
              concurrently,   taking  the  full  screen  or  participating
              seemlessly with other windowed applications on the  desktop,
              and  running in a separate session for maximum protection or
              with other Windows  applications  in  a  single  session  to
              conserve   system   resources.     Running  DOS  or  Windows
              applications under  OS/2  has  many  other  advantages  over
              running  them  in  their native environments.  Most of those
              benefits won't be discussed in this paper,  however,  except
              to contrast with what Windows did to extend DOS.
              o   MEMORY  MANAGER:    Windows  provides  a  memory manager
                  function so DOS applications can access more than 640  K
                  of  memory.    OS/2,  on the other hand, doesn't have to
                  contend with the out-dated memory schemes found in  DOS,
                  which  requires  that  programs  be  written  in  64  KB
                  segments (the register size of early Intel  processors).
                  OS/2 improves support for DOS applications with up to 32
                  MB  of  EMS/XMS  memory  and  512  MB of DPMI memory per
                                                                       ___
                  application.   And OS/2 applications are  free  of  page
                  segments with the ability to address memory contiguously
                  and  the  ability  to use 32-bit instructions to exploit
                  your 32-bit hardware.
              o   GRAPHICAL PROGRAM LAUNCHER:   Windows adds  a  graphical
                  user  interface (GUI) to DOS, but OS/2 advances the user
                  interface a generation beyond the GUI found  in  Windows
                  3.1   or  Windows  NT.    OS/2  has  an  object-oriented
                  interface, the WorkPlace Shell, where each icon  on  the
                  "desktop"  represents  an  object  (printer, disk drive,
                  program, folder, file,  etc).    The  metaphor  is  more
                  life-like  and  new  users find it much easier to learn.
                  Even experienced Windows users find OS/2 easier to  use,
                  because  most operations can be completed with one mouse
                  click.  To print a document, simply drag to the  printer
                  instead  of  (in  Windows)  opening the program manager,
                  then  the  word  processor,  then  selecting  File   and
                  Directory  and  File  Name just to open the document and
                  finally selecting Print and Print Location to finish the
                  printing task.   (And don't forget  to  close  the  word
                  processor.)
              o   WINDOWING  TASK SELECTOR:  Windows 3.1 lets users switch
                  back  and  forth  between  running  applications,   even
                  between  DOS  and  Windows  applications, that appear in
                  overlapping  windows.     It  also  includes   ways   of
                  exchanging  information, with Cut & Paste, DDE, and OLE.
                  But multitasking under Windows  is  limited  because  it
                  sits  on  DOS, which was never designed to run more than
                  one  thing  at  a  time.   DOS suffers from a single I/O
                  buffer that forces all I/O operations to  be  serialized
                  (one at a time), and since Windows relies on DOS for its
                  I/O,  Windows  suffers too.   OS/2 on the other hand was
                  designed    specifically    to    support     preemptive
                  multitasking.   This allows applications to better share
                  system resources and all run at the same time.  OS/2 can
                  also support several overlapped I/O  operations  due  to
                  multiple, shared I/O buffers.
                             WHAT ARE YOUR GROWTH OPTIONS?
              There  is  one  last issue with Windows, and that's where do
              you go from  here?    Microsoft  is  already  talking  about
              Chicago (a code name for Windows 4.0), which is not expected
              until  sometime in 1994.  Chicago hopes to solve some of the
              problems  Windows  users  have  today  by   by-passing   DOS
              completely  and  doing its own I/O and by adding support for
              32-bit applications.  To exploit Chicago,  you  will  likely
              have  to  upgrade all of your Windows applications again, as
              you've done in the past going from one release to another.
              With  OS/2,  you  can  run  your  16-bit  DOS  and   Windows
              applications  and  add  new 32-bit applications when you are
              ready.  As in the past, when moving to  new  OS/2  releases,
              your old applications should still run fine because of IBM's
              long-term  commitment  to protecting customer investments in
              hardware, system software, and applications.


OS/2 AWARDS

Over 2 million copies of OS/2 2.0 were sold in its first 9 months, and OS/2 continues to garner international acclaim from the computer industry's leading publications and delighted end users.

Since November, 1992, IBM OS/2 2.0 has won 15 awards from the computer industry's leading U.S trade publications -- PC Magazine, PC Computing, PC World, Information Week, and Corporate Computing -- honoring OS/2 in categories such as technical excellence, most promising new product and best operating system/environment. Specific honors and awards presented to IBM OS/2 2.0 include:

  • PC Magazine - December 22, 1992
"Technical  Excellence" Award Winner, "Operating Systems and Software Standards"
  • InformationWeek - December 22, 1992
"1992 Top Products -- The 10 Most Likely to Succeed"
  • PC Week -- December 28, 1992
"Top Products of '92"
  • PC World - December 1992
"PC Industry  Achievement"  Award  for  "Most  Promising Newcomer, Software"
  • PC/Computing -- December 1992
"Most  Valuable  Product"  (MVP)  Award  for  "Operating System/Environment"
  • Corporate Computing -- January 1993
"Best Buy for 1993"
  • PC Magazine (Italy) -- February 3, 1993
"PC Technology" Award
  • Software noviny (Czechia) -- February, 1993
"Product of the Year 1992"
  • Datamation -- February 15, 1993
"Product of the Year," PC Software category
  • Computer Language -- February 23, 1993
"Jolt Cola" Award for "Product Excellence 1992"
  • PC Magazine (Spain) -- March 1993
"Product of the Year"
  • InfoWorld -- April 26, 1993
"Software Product of the Year"
  • InfoWorld -- April 26, 1993
                  "Overall Product of the Year"(16) (see below)
  • Soft et Micro (France) -- April 1993
                  "1993 Must-Have"
  • Ziff-Davis (Europe) -- 7 June 1993
"Software Excellence Award", "Environment  and  Desktop" category


---

16 The most important thing regarding this award is that it comes from the readers and users, not just the decision of a publisher or committee.

INFORMATION SOURCES

  • TELEPHONE: You can get more information on OS/2 by calling IBM at 1-800-3IBM-OS2 for a free demo diskette or to order your copy of OS/2. They can also refer you to a local PC dealer equipped to give you a demonstration.
  • WHERE TO FIND OS/2 APPLICATIONS: The "OS/2 Applications Solutions Directory," lists thousands of OS/2 applications from independent software vendors. To order your copy, call 800-READ-OS2.
  • FOR INDEPENDENT VENDORS PROVIDING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THAT SUPPORT OS/2: To order "The I.V. League" catalog, call 800-342-6672.
  • IBM COURSEWARE AND EDUCATION: Skill Dynamics, an IBM Company, call 800-IBM-TEACh, ext.137.
  • FAX: Call 800-IBM-4FAX and request an index of documents. Use your touch-tone phone to request by document number.
  • BOOKS & MAGAZINES: Over 35 OS/2 books are in print, with three of the top-10 computer books being on OS/2. They range from a paperback-sized "10 Minute Guide to OS/2 2.1" to the larger "OS/2 2.1 Unleashed," which is over 1,000 pages.
    • "OS/2 Professional" magazine, by I.F.Computer Media, call 301-770-4OS2 to subscribe.
    • "OS/2 Monthly" magazine, by JDF Publishing, call 800-365-2642 to subscribe.
    • "OS/2 Computing" magazine, by Miller Freeman, Inc., call 415-905-2200 to subscribe.
    • "OS/2 Developer" magazine, by IBM, call 800-WANT-OS2 to subscribe.
  • ON-LINE INFORMATION: On-line documentation contained within OS/2 2.1 is so extensive that, even compressed, it takes up 2.5 megabytes of your hard disk. If it were printed, it would be over 2,000 pages. With such a vast library of information available, IBM has taken great pains to make it easy to access and navigate through. Helps are context-sensitive, and often contain hyper-links to more detail if needed.

This is just a small subset of the many sources of information on OS/2.

ORDERING INFORMATION

The suggested retail price of OS/2 is $249, including all of the functions of DOS and Windows and more. During a promotional period (which ends September 15, 1993), however, existing DOS users can upgrade for just $99 (CD-ROM version) or $119 (diskette version). OS/2 users can send in a rebate coupon worth $30, getting the price down as low as $69!

To order your copy today and participate in the promotional pricing, call IBM at 1-800-3IBM-OS2. In Canada, call 1-800-465-7999.

TRADEMARKS:

IBM, OS/2, WorkPlace Shell, Crash Protection, Skill Dynamics, Multimedia Presentation Manager/2, MMPM/2, Mwave, WindSurfer, DataFax, PhoneFX, SOM, DSOM, PS/1, PS/2, PS/2E, PowerPC, PS/2 TV, SNA, and Rexx are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation.
Adobe Type Manager is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc.
America Online is a registered service mark of America Online, Inc.
BitFax is a trademark of Bit Software, Inc.
CompuServe is a registered trademark of the CompuServe Corporation.
DCF/2 is a trademark of Proportional Software.
DeScribe is a registered trademark of DeScribe, Inc.
FaxForward is a trademark of Computer Systems Integration, Inc.
Fax/PM is a trademark of Microformatic USA.
Lotus 1-2-3 and Freelance are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lotus Development Corp.
Home Office is a trademark of Prometheus Products.
Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc.
Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Windows 3.1, Windows NT, Microsoft Money, Excel, OLE and Cairo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Open+Fax is a trademark of Open+Voice, Inc.
PFS: Works is a trademark of Spinnaker Software Corp.
Photo CD is a trademark of Eastman Kodak Company.
PMfax is a trademark of Keller Group, Inc.
Prodigy is a trademark of PRODIGY Services Company, Inc.
Quicken is a trademark of Intuit Corporation.
Stacker is a trademark of STACK Electronics Inc.
Sytos Plus and Sytos Rebound are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sytron Corporation.
WinFax is a trademark of Delrina Technology.
WordPerfect is a registered trademark of WordPerfect Corporation.
486 and Pentium are trademarks of Intel Corporation.