Re: OS2 Warp vs Win95

["R Tennenbaum"]

>I switched because of the abysmal lack of software available for OS2. Many
>Win 3.x
>programs run, but generally not very well. There are huge gaps in OS2
>software--ie
>no decent PIM, somewhat limited utilities, the lack of a good text search
>program.

Before this gets out of hand: 1) some W3.1 programs need to have their
session settings tweaked to run optimally, which can get complicated;
2) I've never seen an OS/2 PIM I've liked, but Lotus Organizer for OS/2
just came out with the latest SmartSuite several weeks ago; 3)
utilities are not as exhaustive as something like Norton, but arguably
are not so necessary, and the essential ones are for sale or freeware,
and 4) apart from SearchManager/2, which may not be what you have in
mind, there are at least 3 or 4 grep ports which work for me, and I
wonder if while you were using OS/2 you happened to overlook Pmseek,
which comes bundled, and which can search your drives for a filespec or
text within files.

Another of OS/2's strongest suits, is Rexx, the scripting language
(which has now been ported to other platforms). It is comparatively
easy to learn and can help automate procedures and connect applications
quite powerfully.

If you prefer running dos applications and don't forsee your needs
changing for a long time, and you don't mind getting under the hood
every once in a while, OS/2 is worth a try. I began using it in 1992
because I disliked Windows. Now I'm glad I have an alternative which
works very nicely indeed.


>
>I DO miss the stability. Win 95 is clearly less stable, although I have
>been surprised
>about the infrequency of crashes. I do miss the multitasking, but only
>when downloading
>mail, and when faxes arrive; there's a slight slowdown while receiving.
>
>On the other hand, XyDos seems to run exactly the same as it did under OS2.
> In 2
>months of 10-hour-a-day operation, it's never crashed.
>
>OS2 is far more configurable for sophisticated users, but Win95 has many more
>very good utility programs that compensate. An example: Nuts&Bolts, which
>makes
>tuning/editing the Windows registry far easier than fiddling with the OS2
>ini files.
>
>All things considered, I'm glad I made the switch, even though I sometimes
>miss OS2.
>
>jb
>            James D. Besser, Washington Correspondent
>   * E-mail: jbesser@xxxxxxx , jdbesser@xxxxxxx *  Fax: 703-978-3675 *