Originally published on August 5, 1995.

The interview this week is with me! I have tried in the last few issues to provide fairly balanced coverage of IBM's OS/2 and Microsoft's products. No matter what I do I get flamed by OS/2 users for laying down at Microsoft's feet or getting toasted by Microsoft users who think I am a mouthpiece for IBM. The flames from the last week were horrid.

Here is the truth with me and IBM/Microsoft. I own six computers. Here is the breakdown:

MY WORKSTATION: Windows 3.1 (I'll move over soon)

MY SECOND WORKSTATION (Read Wife's and Kid's): Windows 95

MY PRIMARY SERVER: NetWare 3.12 5 User

MY SECONDARY SERVER: Windows NT 3.5

MY BBS RUNNING TWO HIGH SPEED LINES: OS/2 Warp

MY LAPTOP (OR WHATEVER I AM BORROWING): Windows 3.1

Gee, let's see ... I do use Microsoft on most of my machines, but look at the BBS where great DOS multitasking is needed ... hmmm, OS/2.

Let's look at the software I use:

Primary Business Software: Lotus SmartSuite for Windows - OS/2 Version available with old apps! (Of which I use AmiPro and Organizer 80% of the time)

Accounting Software: QuickBooks for Windows

Graphics Software: Visio by Shapeware

Mail Reader: CMPQWK for BBS, WinCIM for CompuServe OS/2 Version available!, AOL for AOL

Internet Browser: Netscape Latest 32 Bit

BBS: PCBoard 15.21 DOS, OS/2 Version available!

Hmmm, absolutley no Microsoft software. Gee, and look, only three of the packages I use are available in OS/2. Of those only two have been updated to take advantage of Warp!

Let's face it folks, life is too short to bitch and moan about competing operating systems. Back when the world wasn't dominated by Windows from Microsoft I could have actually believed that OS/2 could have achieved some large scale market penetration, but come on. Logically, let's look at this ... OS/2 hands down is a much more stable, reliable operating system for mission critical applications. I know I feel secure that my ATM runs OS/2 instead of Windows 95. I also feel secure my BBS won't crap out on vacation due to an operating system error. On the other hand I just got back from CompUSA. I counted twelve native OS/2 applications that I would consider mainstream. There were absolutley NO GAMES, EDUCATIONAL or HOME software specifically designed for WARP.

Ok, that should address how I feel about OS/2 vs. Windows. In case I didn't make it clear enough I think that Windows is the operating system that will survive in the consumer marketplace. If you aren't doing Windows 95 a year from now you won't have applications. Period. If you are a business, lab or technical company looking for a rock solid operating system to develop a mission critical application look towards OS/2 first and then Windows NT. If you need networking with that mission critical application grab Windows NT.

Going forward I will present timely OS/2 and Windows information from reliable sources, but I won't publish the taunting items I was passed this week. I will post the following from Microsoft in response to the OS/2 PR I posted last week. It was my mistake to publish the crud from IBM without checking the dates, etc. You just can't trust email these days . . .

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