Text of IBM OS/2 CompuServe Conference April, 1993 ------------------- TEXT OF CIS CONFERENCE -------------------------------- (#1,Irv Spalten [IBM]) Welcome, today we have 4 members of the OS/2 development organization here. Shon Saliga, Ross Cook, Jack Boyce, and Laura Sanders. You may ask any question of any one, and we will redirect if necessary. I ask that the IBM'ers hold thier questions to the end. To ask a question, you issue a /QUE and you will be put into a queue. When you are done with the question, place a GA at the end so we know. (#1,Irv Spalten [IBM]) Shon, would like to say a few words... (#3,IBM OS/2 Beta Panel) (Shon) Thank you for joining us this evening. We are looking forward to a candid session. As you may know, we have just shipped our latest Beta driver which contains much of the feedback received from the first Beta driver. In addition, we have modified our CompuServe Forum to list the problems that you will identify in this Beta and our development status for those problems. Our experience with the Beta program has been outstanding. We are very fortunate to have had exceptional participation from many of you. So let's get started. (#1,Irv Spalten [IBM]) OK, we are ready... (#1,Irv Spalten [IBM]) First question please (#13,David Hutt) I have a question regarding AS/400 DDM support for OS/2 Is AS/400 Distrubuted Data Management supported on OS/2, and if so, does the Os/2 side support both target and source? GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) OS/2 2.1 will be supported as an improved AS400 client via RUMBA for OS/2 as well as Communications Manager/2. This will be based on improvements in 2.1 and follow-on announcements from AS400. Does this answer your question? GA (#13,David Hutt) Yes. I believe so. Just for the record the goal that I am seeking: Since OS/2 and large size Ps/2 systems could now be used as in-store processors (instead of AS/400's), it would be neat to use an OS/2 file server as the source DDM and the IBM 4680 controllers to use the existing target DDM support. GA % Moderator recognizes question #4 Tony Valenti (20) (#20,Tony Valenti) I would like to know the status of the C++ Class Libraries. Have the Libraries been updated on the March PDK? Will there be further updates soon? TV (#3,IBM) (Laura) Yes, but I don't have the specific details of which classes were updated but this is discussed in the new PDK. GA % Moderator recognizes question #6 Larry [GCP] (9) (#9,Larry [GCP]) I'm very concerned about the overall stability of the 2.1 betas. From what I've seen so far, there's a *very* long way to go before this code is ready to ship. I was never able to get the 12/92 beta installed, and after running the 3/93 (498G) for the last week, when I lost my OS/2 partition for the 4th time last night, I gave up on this cut of the 2.1 beta. While it shows great potential, and the windows 3.1 compatibilityy shows great promise, it's just not stable enough to be usable ... yet. How is IBM going to insure that the customers will receive a usable (& stable) product when 2.1 does ship when the "last public beta" is so shakey? ga (#3,IBM) (Shon) Fortunately, not all of our users have had this level of difficulty in using the current Beta. My entire development team (>250) developers have this installed throughout the center. I am aware of some problems relating to the recent INI file update which we incorporated into this Beta in order to improve system stability size of the INI files and performance. It was important this set of problems in the GA product and our experience in the Beta fortunately has identified a set of problems that we are pursuing agressively and therefore will be fixed in the GA product. Our ship decision for OS/2 2.1 will clearly be based on the feedback from our customers, Beta testers, large ISV's, internal testing, and will be shipped when it's ready. If you have specific problems in the development of your applications, please use the CIS forums to report your problems and we will take appropriate action. GA % Moderator recognizes question #7 Alan Able (15) (#15,Alan Able) Thank You...and Happy 1St Birthday for OS/2 2.0 (and Thanks for all the hard work)...My question follows... Well, Happy 1st birthday to OS/2 2.0! Thsanks to all the hard work from the development staff...I am quite pleased with the technical capabilities of OS/2/exit I am interested in development of OS/2 WPS applications using SOM and C++. Understanding that the PDK's are shipping with BETA code,,,what type of support is planned for SOM bindings for C++? What kind of time frame? GA (#3,IBM) (Ross) We are committed to support the C++ SOM bindings for the Workplace shell in OS/2 2.1 and the associated toolkit. We are currently testing that support. Thanks for the Happy Birthday. GA % Moderator recognizes question #8 Mark Addleman (42) (#42,Mark Addleman) When can we expect to see WpS enabled applets? I'm not looking for increased functionality, just something to show off to my Mac-centric Oops When can we expect to see WPS enabled applets? I'm not looking for increased functionality, just something to show off to my Mac-centric friends :) Also, what can we expect in the future regarding increased WPS functionality? GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) We are assessing the best of the bunch right now. Stay tuned. GA % Moderator recognizes question #9 Ronald S. Woan (12) (#12,Ronald S. Woan) When do you think 2.1 upgrade pricing and distribution details will be made public, i.e. will the 2.1 upgrade be sold directly or through retail outlets? GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) Upgrade will be made available through all channels. Pricing and distribution will be released to channels prior to GA at and contained in the announcement. GA % Moderator recognizes question #10 Eric Pinnell (29) (#29,Eric Pinnell) I am not a happy camper. I too am very disappointed by beta 6.498. My concern is with the beta testing procedures being used. I have been told that internal testing at IBM would spot the seroius flaws. Obviously, based on what I have seen of 6.498, this is not the case. EVERY single other ISV I have ever beta tested for (literally dozens of firms) sends out regular betas to small groups of outside testers to make sure the bugs are worked out. the issue isn't whwther a beta works in the lab, it is whether not not it works on the users machines. Given this fact, when is IBM going to adopt this policy so that we can see stable beta releases? GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) We exploit every opportunity to test this Beta in every environment we can think of. That includes ISV's, OEM's, large customer sites, internal testing, and the Beta programs. A Beta program is meant to identify problems in code that has been introduced since the previous beta. As opposed to something that constantly gets better. If this Beta was rock solid and perfect, we wouldn't give it to you for free. GA % Moderator recognizes question #13 Leif Braeuer (ger) (8) (#8,Leif Braeuer (ger)) OK Hello, my question relates to some "multi-user" features of the WPS. First I found some *ACL* files in the dec. 2.1 beta. Are they what they seem to be? What kind of user access control will there be? At second will ther be a LAN-base WPS (a user logs into a server and gets his/her WPS) GA (#3,IBM) (Ross) The ACL files you found in the Dec. 2.1 Beta allowed us to install over a Lan requester. As far as multiple user workplace shell we have done a lot of investigation in this area and will consider it strongly for the next release. GA % Moderator recognizes question #14 Juan Falcon (46) (#46,Juan Falcon) What are your plans for supporting Windows apps once the current license expires later this year? (#3,IBM) (Jack) We have all the rights we need to continue to support windows applications for the foreseeable future. Of course, investing our time to do this will be based on the market demand for the constant evolving WIN/nn API. GA % Moderator recognizes question #15 Carlos Barberena (43) (#43,Carlos Barberena) OS/2 2.1 Beta looks great! Very Stable. Will there be any additional enhancements to it including some kind of way of saving the WPS icon locations, implementing OLE under OS/2, etc of significance that is not on the beta? ga GA send send GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) We won't be adding any significant function prior to shipping OS/2 2.1. Our future function is currently under development. Our OLE implementation is included in that. GA (Laura) P.S. Carlos, it's great to hear about oyour positive experience. GA % Moderator recognizes question #20 Tom Satter (61) (#61,Tom Satter) I personally like the Beta policy (other than I haven't received the March beta yet). When do you expect the GA to be ready? I have heard May? It seems to me that OS/2 still does have a stability problem. While I can now use OS/2 for days with no problem, that is mainly because I have learned what to stay away from. One of OS/2's biggest selling points is that it is a stable (protected) environment. It is possible to write a 20 line program that will lockup OS/2 completely (no Ctrl-Alt-Del even.) Sure, the program had bug (called WinCreateStdWindow with a null anchor - or some such thing) but this is exactly why OS/2 uses the protected mode of the '386 - to trap such mistakes and halt the offending process rather than die. Does the 2.1 March beta address an stability issues? Thanks! (Also, thanks for all of the hard work. OS/2 is a great O/S!) GA GA (#3,IBM) ((Shon) Yes, the March Beta has a number of fixes that address stability but we know we are not done yet. We will ship GA when it's ready. GA % Moderator recognizes question #21 Brian Bonner (45) (#45,Brian Bonner) 3. What IBM programs are available to assist folks in bringing new OS/2 type products to market??? For example, if we create tools that are not developed in C or C++, but REXX... I've got the new 6.498 beta. It's better than the other's (I had numerous lockups before. Now it's only limited to a few...) Did you get that? GA GA (#3,IBM) 3. Brian, there are programs to help assist folks to bring OS/2 products to market. The DAP - Developers Assistance Program. Enter GO OS2DAP on CompuServe to register and get more information. % Moderator recognizes question #22 Garnett Gleim (32) (#32,Garnett Gleim) How long will you be supporting OS/2 2.0, subsequent to 2.1's release? We have numerous remote sites that are using 2.0 for very important production applications. An upgrade path to higher versions of OS/2 is quite a large undertaking for us. GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) OS/2 2.0 will be supported via IBM Service for approximately two years from it's general availability. We are aware that moving to the next level of the operating system takes time and want customers to be comfortable with their investment. New function will be exploited only in new releases. GA % Moderator recognizes question #24 Ken Wohlferd (16) (#16,Ken Wohlferd) What do you see as the competition for OS/2, and how will 2.1 help? GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) The competition OS/2 is varied based on environments. 2.1 continues OS/2's standing as both an excellent server and client solution. Specific improvements in 2.1 includes support for Windows 3.1 application, additional extensive new hardware support and performance improvements. We have also put alot of effort into responding to customer environments regarding the stability of the product. 2.1 has many new features too numerous to detail here. Is there a specific one you are interested in? GA % Moderator recognizes question #25 Tony Valenti (20) (#20,Tony Valenti) I am very pleased with the latest beta, although I did have some install problems which seemed to be related to my Trident SVGA. I am surprised that it is now working nicely in 1024x768 seamless. I will soon be trying the 8514 driver because all our production machines use 8514. Will there be a new version of the 8514 driver in the near future? (PS.. Thanks for all the good improvements...hope you are having fun too! ga (#3 Frank - IBM) We have a 8514 seamless driver available for the March Beta. You can get it here on CompuServe in the PSPBETA FORUM library. ga. % Moderator recognizes question #26 Larry [GCP] (9) (#9,Larry [GCP]) I'll pass at this time. Thanks for a great OS! % Moderator recognizes question #27 Axel Salomon (60) (#60,Axel Salomon) Hallo. I have more than question ... 1. Will there be an intermediate Service Pack for OS/2 2.0 or do we have to wait for OS/2 2.1 to be release (i mean a secend one) 2. When do you plan to release foreign Language versions of OS/2 2.1 ? At the same time, shortly after or months later (german version ?) 3. The current DDK lacks a lot of information and looks like a quick build. (when) will there be a next release ? 4. Even though 1993 will be the year of OS/2 2.x 32bit Apps. Will there be a PDK with LOTS (!!!) of (small) samples on it, to help writing new apps. including SOM+WPS, Win..., Gpi... and other Funktions ? 5. What are your plans on Multimedia and the current HW-Support ? My OS/2 2.1 works fine. i am very impressed. tahnk you very much for your strong support (DAP, etc) GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) We plan service for 2.0 independent of 2.1. Our national language versions of OS/2 2.1 are targetted for concurrent release with US for all but DBCS products. Next DDK is being updated now. GA % Moderator recognizes question #28 Leif Braeuer (ger) (8) (#8,Leif Braeuer (ger)) OK My questions. Will 2.1 be available on CD-ROM (as announeced for 2.0)? Will ther still be any (thunked) 16 Bit code, or can we call it finally puer 32-bit ? (Oh yes. OS/2 is a really good OS ! Keep on with this.) GA (#3,IBM) (Laura) Yes, it will be available on CD-ROM. Some thunked code still exists. GA % Moderator recognizes question #29 Juan Falcon (46) (#46,Juan Falcon) What are your plans for supporting Windows apps once the current license expires later this year? Will the release of the GA 2.1 be affected by the release of NT? NextStep? Solaris? Also, will we see a "portable" OS/2? In my company, scalability is what makes our management go for Unix OSs instead of OS/2. (#3,IBM) (Shon) You may have seen many recent articles regarding our future direction relative to Workplace OS which is a portable/scaleable operating system which supports OS/2 apps, Windows apps, DOS apps, UNIX apps. We demoed this at Fall COMDEX and plan additional demonstrations and Beta's this year. GA % Moderator recognizes question #30 Vincent DeSanto (10) (#10,Vincent DeSanto) Are you aware that installation for MS DOS 6.0 contains instructions for removing OS/2 from your hard drive? Any comments? I think that dirty. GA (#3,IBM) (Shon) We are aware and appreciate your concern. GA (#34,Ross Cook) Yes, I have heard this. GA % Moderator recognizes question #31 Jeroen Frijters (21) (#21,Jeroen Frijters) When will OS/2 be Pentium-optimized? As OS/2 is leading tech. software it should be able to take advantage of leading tech. hardware. GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) We are currently working our Pentium-optimization into the OS/2 product. Some will be in 2.1 and some in follow-on releases. GA % Moderator recognizes question #34 Bruce Beatty (40) (#40,Bruce Beatty) I need your Help...We designed a new application using OS/2 and Ripps last fall. We have tested it under 12/92 Beta and it runs well. We need to impliment this new application by early June, 1993. Based upon what I have heard there is only a slim chance. What is your best guess (90+%) of a final release date??? June??? July??? August??? I need to tell my users something??? Thanks Bruce from Walt Disney World.... GA (#3,IBM) (Shon) We are targetting for release as soon as possible based on Beta feedback and final testing. I would be very surprised and disappointed if this was as late as August. Say hi to Mickey. % Moderator recognizes question #35 Michael Hoodes (59) (#59,Michael Hoodes) What is a REAL reasonable memory for running Windows Apps. I have 8Mb ram and start with an 8Mb swapper. If I run 2 Win apps and PRINT (TRUETYPE) I go past the 8Mb (9.5 ...). Will this change in GA, OR should I add 6-8Mb more RAM? (This is on 2.1 4.698 and previous levels.) I don't forsee replacing my Windows apps very quickly. BTW: I love OS/2 and WPS!!! Thanks. GA (#34,Ross Cook) It all depends on how much response you want from your system. And how much memory these 2 applications really need. GA % Moderator recognizes question #36 John Navas (38) (#38,John Navas) What is the status of resolving the compatibility problem between OS/2 and Phar Lap's TNT extender, which is used in new Windows tools from Microsoft like MASM 6.1 and Visual C++ 1.0. Phar Lap claims that the problem is a bug in OS/2. I first reported this to IBM some months ago but so far have not been able to get a definitive response. GA (#34,Ross Cook) No one here right now knows anything. Do you have an APAR numberr? GA Navas, I was just corrected: we are in fact working with Phar Lap right now on this. GA % Moderator recognizes question #38 Ken Wohlferd (16) (#16,Ken Wohlferd) Thanks for the 2.1 positioning answer. Next question: How do you see Portable OS/2 and Pink fitting in? As new releases for OS/2 or new products? The press has been saying that OS/2 is a dead end because of these products. I can assume that you don't agree? GA (#34,Ross Cook) We are looking into adapting Taligent technology into OS/2 but none of this will happen in the near future. At least no significant changes to the current operation you know and love. A portable version of OS/2 is a very interesting point but there are lots of problems there - mostly in how do we continue to support existing 16-bit applications with good performance. GA % Moderator recognizes question #39 Leif Braeuer (ger) (8) (#8,Leif Braeuer (ger)) Whats about new file systems ? Will there may be support for other filesystems For example Microsoftfs NTFS or UNIX NFS. Somewhere I heared of using a object oriented filesystem in the next release (someone mentioned Lotus Notes). GA I think there is still a gap between the WPS and OS/2 GA (#3,IBM) (Ross) Our file server that we implemented on the Workplace OS includes support for memory Mapped files. We will continue to develop new technologies and introduce them both in our operating systems. GA % Moderator recognizes question #40 Jeroen Frijters (21) (#21,Jeroen Frijters) I know it is possible to add a menu-item to the desktop menu. But, I would like to see it possible to remove an item from the desktop menu (specifically: arrange icons). GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) While it is not possible to remove the arranged menu item, using the Workplace user interface. You can do this by sub-classing the desktop class and removing the menu item with one of the methods. GA % Moderator recognizes question #41 John Navas (38) (#38,John Navas) A combo ( sorry :) disk question: When can we expect native OS/2 disk compression? Will it be compatible with DOS 6.0 (which I expect to be When will OS/2 provide true removable media support for devices like SyQuest drives (preferably compatible with DOS)? GA (#3,IBM) (Ross) Many vendors are working on products for OS/2 disk compression. We are supporting these vendors and expect them to release their products soon. Not in OS/2 2.1 but we are pursuing incorporating disk compression in OS/2. DOS 6.0 disk compression is a question of installing on top of DOS as opposed to compressing OS/2 files. We are evaluating the DOS 6.0 compression and how compatable it is with other operating systems including OS/2. GA % Moderator recognizes question #42 Brian Bonner (45) (#45,Brian Bonner) What is the best way for suggestions for OS/2 2.X enhancements to hit IBM? It seems that in this fast paced world, the old methods are too slow... I have placed suggestions on the PSPbeta, but I sometimes feel like they have gone into a black hole. It would be nice if there was a list kept somewhere of the suggestions that you received, the one's you will implement and the ones you won't. Perhaps you can even use a vehicle like this to Vote on them Here are some excerpts of the suggestions: Perhaps share OS2TOOLS and nurture them for the user community. Two good examples are NETFOLD and PRIVF. These make it nice to shield people from messing w/ the underlying system (hide the command prompts, etc.) - great for kids... Be nice to have the FORMAT for Drive A (and any drive for that matter appear in the Window List. I am formatting diskettes, while I use WINCIM, w/ Excel and Word in the background, waiting for me to finish my paper... Minimizing all of the windows to find your format is done is a pain... Locking down the Icons on the WPS (the question seen earlier...) Avoiding the sort problem. Guy Scharf suggested INTRCPT, but it may not do what I need. Enabling the Launching of WPS apps via DDE. In other words, when I launch a App, like Excel by double clicking on a data icon, I would NOT like to launch another copy by clicking on another excel data icon. I want it to put it in the ALREADY running APP...Right now if I want to work w/ Data Icons, it takes too long to load up a Windows session for each app to get the kind of protection I want. I would like to take advantage of the Crash protection and interact with the WPS through DATA instead of APPS...please help. Did you get the message I send about Suggestions? and the black hole? I was busy editing the message when my number was called. Serves me right for typing so much. It would be nice to keep a log (file somewhere) of suggestions that people make and if and when IBM will work on them. Right now it appears that they go into a black hole, never to be seen again. My suggestions are mostly user interface questions... 1. Perhaps products from OS2TOOLS can hit the public more quickly (i.e PRIVF and NETFOLD) (#3,IBM) (Laura) We capture suggestions from the forum and feed that into the OS/2 Product Plan. We have initiated with this Beta a feedback mechanism and will consider using athe same feedback mechanism for product enhancements. GA (#1,Irv Spalten [IBM]) The OS2TOOLS stuff is processed individually by employees % Moderator recognizes question #43 Rick Arabian (26) (#26,Rick Arabian) I am currently writing a true OS/2 2.X multi-user BBS. I have had trouble cmmunicating through two com ports at bps rates above 2400, is IBM working to improve this or should I write My own stuff?, HELP?!?! (#3,IBM) (Jack) If you are protect mode application this should work just fine. There are some problems on slow machines with non protect mode applications. We are pursuing all communication problems agressively in the this product. If you have a particular problem, please describe this on the Beta forum. GA % Moderator recognizes question #44 Bruce Beatty (40) (#40,Bruce Beatty) Ref O/S 2 2.1 GA If GA is not till August I may drop OS/2 and redo my application Is there any chance for May, June or July??? Mickey needs this Application... Thanks...Bruce... GA (#3,IBM) (Shon) ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!!!! Once again we would be happy to go over your specific customer scenario. GA % Moderator recognizes question #45 Tony Valenti (20) (#20,Tony Valenti) Some people find the recommendation to format before installing OS/2 on top of previous betas onerous and intimidating. Why don't you publish (in a readme?) a procedure for manually deleting OS/2 to prepare for an install without losing programs/data? (This way one could use the MS DOS6 delete procedure for a good cause!) ga (#3,IBM) (Jack) There are several sharware programs that support back up and restore of WPS objects that could be used. While in some cases installing over previous Beta's may work, we choose not to support this. GA % Moderator recognizes question #46 Leif Braeuer (ger) (8) (#8,Leif Braeuer (ger)) Just to return to filesystems. Do you think about extending HPFS with links (the feature I like so much on the WPS). And second will there be a HPFS support for removeable medias like Syquest or the IBM Optical drives. GA And just another question. The format of the OS2.INI has changed. How do I migrate my 2.0GA desktop to 2.1 GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) Last question first. When you install the shipped 2.1 product it will automatically migrate your 2.0 GA desktop. HPFS and FAT will be modified to support removable medias including Syquest and IBM Optical drives. GA % Moderator recognizes question #47 John Navas (38) (#38,John Navas) I find that the OS/2 system is too hard to restore from back up for my clients. Are there any plans to make it simpler to save/restore critical system files to/from media like tape? (We have tried and rejected Sytos, which required a new OS/2 install before we could restore, and that a kludge workaround to restore system files in use.) When will OS/2 provide true removable media support for devices like SyQuest drives (preferably compatible with DOS)? GA Amend SSyQuest question to WHEN? (#3,IBM) (Laura) Yes, we plan to improve our backup/restore utility. GA % Moderator recognizes question #48 Ken Wohlferd (16) (#16,Ken Wohlferd) Speaking of stuff I would like to see in OS/2: The ease of use items are high on my list. The CONFIG.SYS is worse than DOS, and that was pretty bad. MAKEINI is a clumsy was to recover my system. OS/2 needs built-in recovery. The Backup/Restore process is a pain, booting from diskettes and all. I presume these won't be fixed in 2.1? Should I be pushing for 2.2? GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) The INI file changes made in the recent 2.1 Beta are intended to address the problems that cause you to do a MAKEINI in the first place. We recognize the set of problems that you have described here and will adress the problems in this and future releases of OS/2. GA % Moderator recognizes question #49 Brian MacDonald (19) (#19,Brian MacDonald) I'd like to know what the plans are for SOM bindings for languages other than C++, ie. SmallTalk. Any hints on when I can expect to see them, ie. 2.1, 2.2 .... GA (#3,IBM) (Jack) DigitalK Talk has publically stated that they will support SOM bindings in their products. We will pursue any language binders that supply any competitive advantages. GA (#1,Irv Spalten [IBM]) Thanks folks, it has been fun...