From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,89226195d95fba21 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: John Howard Subject: Re: Operating Systems Date: 1997/07/28 Message-ID: X-Deja-AN: 259664251 References: <33D541EF.17B6@digiscape.com> To: "Robert D. Yexley" Organization: SkyNET Corporation Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1997-07-28T00:00:00+00:00 List-Id: On Tue, 22 Jul 1997, Robert D. Yexley wrote: > Looking for some objective opinions. I am a new programmer and am going > to be doing it for a living and will be buying a new computer soon. I > am trying to find out what will be the best and most practical operating > system to run on a home computer that will be used for programming a > lot. I have heard very good things about Windows NT, but dont know much > about it. Are there any good books that could help me with this? Can > somebody help me with what would be best for these purposes? Thanks for > the help. I am letting these chips fly and fall wherever. A comical paraphrase from the Unix Haters Handbook site: "Linux is free if your time is worthless." Otherwise opt for a commercialized operating system that has proven itself reliable and that will not suddenly disappear to force you to upgrade your computer systems. (Some distributions of Linux are commercialized and hence not "free". Though Linux may not even be the best value at any price. It lacks technology which is patented and used by other operating systems.) I recommend OS/2 Warp 4 with built-in WIN-OS2 support for Microsoft Windows v3.1 programs. WIN-OS2 is provably more reliable than MS Windows v3.1. And OS/2 can coexist with many other PC operating systems such as versions of DOS. Most existing PC software is still DOS and Windows 3.1 programs. But many developers expect the future trend for PC software will be to increasingly adopt Java technology. The reasons are cheaper distribution and broader interoperability. Consequently Microsoft is reportedly redesigning Windows 98 to have a workplace user interface similar to a browser. But IBM does not need to change the OS/2 user interface as radically since the OS/2 WorkPlace Shell (WPS) was designed as a true object-oriented desktop and has been around for five years. It is no big deal to customize the "look" of WPS while retaining mostly the same "feel" by the user. Familiarity is comforting. My criteria for selecting an operating system is based upon ease-of-use, open interoperability (to protect my past & future software investments), and affordable technical support for software development. For an annual subscription less than $300 I got the Warp 4 operating system and the development tools from IBM via their Developer Connection Release 2 CD's. Quarterly, support is provided to program for Open32 (Win32 API tailored to OS/2), OpenDoc, OpenGL, VoiceType, WIN-OS2, DOS, OS/2, device drivers, Java, AIX Unix, databases, and various IBM servers designed for many kinds of networking. Extensive documentation is provided on the CD's and the hyperlinks to the Internet. Includes multiplatform VisualAge compilers for C++, COBOL, Basic, and Java. http://www.developer.ibm.com/devcon/ United States: 1-800-6DEVCON (1-800-633-8266) annual subscription You can find a free GNAT Ada 95 compiler for OS/2 at www.adahome.com. I use OS/2 as a PC host development environment that lets me target multiple environments. OS/2 has existed for a long time and there is no reason for it to disappear considering there are at least ten million regular OS/2 users. Case in point: I heard that Apple recently ended further development of OpenDoc. This news does not mean that IBM has to abandon OpenDoc. (I don't know what IBM will ultimately do.) But OpenDoc is nicely integrated into Warp 4 already and recent IBM plans have been for further integration with Java Beans support. This means applets will be able to open up a familiar OpenDoc environment for viewing or editing data. With Java Beans an applet does not have to be customized to support a specific user environment such as Windows 95 ActiveX controls. I like OpenDoc now that I've used it. The integration of voice recognition with OpenDoc does need to be improved for the next version of OS/2. I just hope more people get a chance to use it. Warp 4 really is a cool environment. Increasingly, OS/2 users surf the web by talking to a Netscape browser (though I still use a Unix text-based browser due to my slow modem and old habits). Linux does not have voice recognition built-in and neither does NT. Integrated voice recognition is a very important ease-of-use factor. The main benefit of OpenDoc is familiarity. You learn how to do things once the easy way and that way can be consistently reused for other applications. Of course, if you've never experienced IBM VoiceType or OpenDoc then all my talk about OS/2 ease-of-use issues probably seems like fluff. Too bad. I began using OS/2 with Warp 3 when it was released in 1994. DOS and Windows were my old habits at the time and they still are for me in OS/2. Obviously Microsoft will cause huge changes due to the migration of Windows 95 users toward Windows 98. At the very least Windows 95 device drivers will have to be changed or hardware you've purchased will be abandoned in the migration. OS/2 users were introduced to similar woes about five years ago. But our pain from searching for device drivers for our existing equipment has mostly subsided. We learned to only buy new equipment that came with a Warp driver. It is fair to say the Windows 98 pain is about to begin. And this time around it will not bother me a bit. -- John Howard -- Team Ada Team OS/2 -- P.S.: I am not the same John Howard who works for IBM and helped write OS/2. I can see where that might become confusing.