Should I laugh or should I cry?

by Volker Weber

Last week IBM announced that they stopped marketing (harrumph) OS/2. By Christmas you won't be able to buy any media, and at the end of 2006 support ends. Of course IBM won't turn away customers who want to buy individual support after that day.

We reported on this story last Friday, and received some 500 comments.

Over the weekend I also received an email from a reader that I have known for years. He was telling me that he is running Domino on OS/2 (end of life'd with R5, Notes with 4.5), that eComStation (an OEM version of OS/2 Warp 4) was going to continue to be being marketed. I believe he wanted to tell me how OS/2 would still be a good choice going forward.

How much more can you possibly be in denial? It has now been ten years since one could see that IBM was going to throw in the towel if you watched really carefully. It has been five years since IBM actually told customers to move on. And here is a consultant who still does not get it.

Comments

Neither. "Die Hunde bellen, aber die Karawane zieht weiter."

Stefan Rubner, 2005-07-18

Love OS/2!! It's still used more than we would like to think...

I can tell you from personal experience that IBM hasn't officially supported OS/2 for a couple of years now. We have an optical jukebox (IBM 3995 model) that is controlled by an OS/2 computer. The very few times we have had issues with this over the past 2 or 3 years, IBM hasn't been too helpful. We needed to do a config change and our IBM CE had to call a specific person in Phoenix, Arizona just to speak with someone at IBM about OS/2. The last time we tried we couldn't get any support on it.

We're actually migrating away from that platform to disk storage.

I thought, according to Ed and Google, that OS/2 was part of IBM's 2005 strategy. =)

Chris Whisonant, 2005-07-18

OS/2 was great ...in its time. But technology moves on, platforms and operating systems change and one must (get ready for the dirty word) ...evolve! I used to be a VMS system manager and I loved the VAX. But the company changed and I needed to 'evolve or dissolve' -- change with the times or leave the company. So I started working with OS/2 and Smalltalk and C and various things that were new to me, and it was good and fun and I learned a lot. And over time things at the company changed. So I learned about Windows and Notes and VB and the web and had fun.

The nature of life and of technology is evolution (Yes, I watched the little 7 words video :-) ....OS/2 is finally going away and it is time to move on if one is STILL there.

Joe Litton, 2005-07-19

As often posted on FIDO.NET: "Totgesagt leben länger!"

Tom Langel, 2005-07-19

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