It wasn't IBM's fault. It was underhanded, illegal acts by Microsoft. MS had software licenses that basically stated that you will agree to pay for a copy of MS/DOS and Windows for each PC produced (not each PC with the software installed). The discounts were great. If IBM, or any other hardware vender wanted to preinstall something else, they either had to also pay for the MS license or not do the MS volume discount and pay retail for MS products.
Eventually, the Federal courts caught MS, the the damage was already done. Then MS did the same thing with MS Office. Prior to Win/95, no one used excel or word. But MS kept changing the specs for Win/95 (and apparently telling their MS/Office developers the real scoop). When Win/95 was launched, MS Office was the only game in town and for about a year afterwards. That is unless you believe that the developers of Lotus and Wordperfect couldn't program themselves out of a paper bag. By time the courts acted, the damage was done. They have done it with their own software. A new Office Suite came. It also required the new Windows. It was suppose to be compatable with the prior Office Suite. But a document from the old MS Office could be used by the new suite, but any document touched by the new suite couldn't be used by the old software. And MS quite licensing the old software. So when one user in a workgroup got a new computer with the new software, all users in the workgroup had to get the upgrades. After everyone was upgraded (and MS made their money), MS came out with the "fix" that allowed documents to be shared both ways. There are still court cases around the world against the illegal practices of Microsoft. But the damage is done. Tom Duerbusch THD Consulting (Anything But Microsoft) >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 12/23/2005 11:01:12 AM >>> We still run os/2 apps here. We are moving them to linux servers under Z/VM- IFL on our 890....That's why I'm here. New to VM and linux. OS/2 what a great system solid as a rock. The dumb thing IBM did IMHO was not to give the os away on thier desktops. A few years ago we were looking into something and when we spoke to IBM about OS/2 thier response was to switch to windows. Now we (some other division) has a 400 that we are looking to 'aquire', so hard telling where that will go. Mace
