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Our debate this month (and the results from our Reader Survey) focus on what IBM should do with OS/2.

Many people's opinion of IBM's marketing of OS/2 is not very flattering. Some of them (though not all, by any means -- see this month's stats) feel that the only cure for what ails OS/2 is to find it a new parent. This is a theme that has been debated heavily on the Internet for some time, and despite the near certainty that it won't happen, it's fun to speculate on what could be accomplished if IBM relinquished control.

Could an independent company buy OS/2 or even just the client version of OS/2 from IBM and do something useful with it? Some say yes, some say no (see Colin's arguments in this month's debate). While it's an accepted fact that IBM makes money because of OS/2, that's very different from saying they make money from OS/2. The company purchasing OS/2 would face incredible obstacles, not the least of which would be overcoming media and end-user inertia, fixing all the inconsistencies of the OS that keep it from being really user-friendly, and hiring a good tech support staff. But if these obstacles could be surmounted, there just might be some long term profit in owning the only real commercial contender to Windows NT (once NT finally becomes a mainstream OS).

But again, some don't seem to think so.

So what if IBM gave away OS/2? There are two ways they could go about this: give away individual copies of the client themselves -- in essence, free licenses to individual users; or, give the entire code for the client to a charitable organization which would then distribute it.

The first option is, in my opinion, what IBM should have done long ago. In Canada, for a while before Warp 4 was released, IBM was selling small packages of Warp 3 with the BonusPak with no manual and no tech support, for about Cdn$50. I know at least a few people that tried OS/2 because of this inexpensive package. If a similar offer were made where the client was actually free for download or available for a nominal fee on CD (with no manual or tech support, of course), imagine how many more people would at least try it (and become hooked!). This is how you build market share, just ask Netscape (or Microsoft).

If you don't think people value software if it's free, have a chat with the reported 5+ million Linux users who have been getting their OS versions in exactly this fashion for years. With a similar solution (I see Walnut Creek bundling the OS/2 client on a CD and selling it for about US$15, much like they do for Linux) and the comparative maturity and polish of OS/2, this would result in millions of extra users over the years. And I mean real users, not ATMs.

Or, suppose IBM just gave the code away and let an independent charitable organization run with it. They could sell the client OS (with IBM retaining all rights for the server) for a nominal fee (US$25 per copy?) to pay salaries for a handful of talented programmers to keep enhancing and developing it. IBM could wash its hands of us end-users once and for all but not have to actually kill the client. And again, it just might increase end-user market share, which would no doubt ripple upwards to server sales once the mainstream media started reporting on this new phenomenon.

But let's be realistic. What if IBM refuses to relinquish control of its baby? After all, they will refuse. Can we extend OS/2 without IBM's permission?

This is probably the most work of any of my ideas, but it just might be the most workable too. IBM is not going to be divulging any lines of code to you or me any time soon, but that doesn't mean we can't build on what they have already provided us. The WPS is incredibly versatile and a great deal of cutting-edge functionality can be added to OS/2 by a good WPS programmer. And much other functionality could be added too, given the proper determination.

What if some organization were to employ talented people to produce such enhancements? Such a charity could solicit memberships (a better TeamOS/2 than TeamOS/2?) from end-users and use the funds to pay said programmers, then making the enhancements freely available to all OS/2 users.

There are precedents for this sort of thing (not the charitable aspects, but the 3rd party enhancement aspects) already. It has been rumoured that IBM almost has font anti-aliasing technology (from Adobe) incorporated in Warp 4 but, for various reasons, left it out. It has also been rumoured that an OS/2 ISV is or was considering finishing this job and releasing the product for sale. In the Windows 3.x market, there is the ubiquitous Winsock by Peter Tattam which allowed users everywhere to use Windows with TCP/IP over a dial up connection. Both these products would or did immensely enhance the value of the base operating system and they didn't or don't require IBM's permission to produce.

In the end, it may be that the future of OS/2 lies not in IBM's hands, and not in OS/2 ISV's hands, but in ours.


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