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Extended Top 11 List

In conjunction with our recent Top 11 list on OS/2, we're pleased to bring you our extended, 32-bit version, containing all of the top suggestions tendered by your fellow Network Computing readers. Enjoy. Top 11 Ways the world would be...
April 08, 2003

In conjunction with our recent Top 11 list on OS/2, we're pleased to bring you our extended, 32-bit version, containing all of the top suggestions tendered by your fellow Network Computing readers. Enjoy.

Top 11 Ways the world would be different if OS/2 had won the operating systems race

  • There would be a "XP-OS/2" emulation. Touting "Better OS/2 than OS/2" -- Scott Reimers
  • Shutting down the OS from the keyboard would take 16 multi-key keystrokes (referenced in the middle of a 3" thick manual) - and still ask, "Are you sure?" -- Dave Deschere
  • Entire inventory of Windows95 CD-ROMs remarketed and sold as coasters for cans of beer. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Dell, Gateway, Compaq forced to pay license fee for.....well, some things never change. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Opera Software's web browser works on IBM's website, but IE crashes. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Steve Ballmer ends up as a manager at WalMart. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Bill Gates writes tome of poetic verse titled "Monopoly Lost", but claims it was his idea first and that it bears no similarity to Milton's classic. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Paul Allen couldn't afford to own Portland Trailblazers; has to settle for minor league sensation Redmond Reboots. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Ex-millionaire Bill Gates gets drunk and beats the crap out of a Nintendo. -- Matthew Ellsworth
  • Netscape Time Warner -- Chuck Evans
  • Two words: Melinda Gerstner -- Chuck Evans
  • Bill Gates predicts the demise of the PS2 and introduces a "run anywhere" programming language, Doors. -- Randy Ramsey
  • Internet Servers wouldn't run an operating system whose name ends in an 'X'. -- Michael Paschal
  • Reboot wouldn't be one of the 3 R's. -- Michael Paschal
  • Software alpha testing would happen at IBM, instead on your desktop. -- Michael Paschal
  • Greed would still be considered one of the seven deadly sins. -- Michael Paschal
  • I wouldn't have to answer my kid's question of why there isn't a Windows 96 and 99. The questions would have been more metaphysical like "What does Warp mean?" -- Harry Levinson
  • Bill Gates would be selling computer training videos on late night television. "OS/2 for beginners, Free with only $7.95 shipping and handling." -- Craig Myers
  • IBM would have been trust busted into three companies, software hardware and service. The hardware company would then merged with AT&T to sell computers to homeowners. The new company would be called IBM AT HOME -- Craig Myers
  • World wide productivity would be 25% higher with the elimination of "reboot time" -- Gregg Young
  • Microchannel would still be king! -- Jim Sierk
  • Beta would beat VHS and remain the most popular -- Jim Sierk
  • Quicker LINUX on the desktop -- Jim Sierk
  • The Lotus Approach certification is considered valuable to companies that aren't Lotus or IBM. -- Mark Jass
  • ATMs and alarm systems run Windows 3.1, requiring multiple restarts a day. -- Mark Jass
  • You could get Linux for your notebook without paying the Microsoft tax for an operating system you don't want. IBM unbundled their operating systems from their hardware in the late 1960s after being taken to court by IBM 360/370 plug compatible hardware manufacturers. -- Larry Karnis
  • OS/2000 would do transaction processing on a mainframe, but the port to your Nokia would be a "bit" behind schedule
  • Redmond would still be a Starbucks and a Safeway warehouse. -- RR
  • Larry Ellison would invite his VP Bill Gates over for sushi. -- RR
  • The OS-Box still wouldn't be as cool as a PS2. -- RR
  • You wouldn't need a P-4 with 256mb to play solitaire. -- Douglas Lancaster
  • Jokes would be very different - how many have you seen that include a $ (Micro$oft!) -- Bob Baer
  • IBM Office updates would be gigantic, free, and quarterly - they would be shipped to you on your new XXXX-gig hard drive, which you would need to run them... -- Bob Baer
  • Linux? How about OS2/3270 instead? -- Bob Baer
  • You still have to load those silly diagnostic diskettes to get meaningful error messages! -- Bob Baer
  • Everything you ever wanted to know about Windows is in a Red Book that you can't find on the IBM web site... -- Bob Baer
  • No more commercials with guys in tin foil suits or rhetorical questions about where you want to go today... -- Bob Baer
  • At least all of their old machines can be seen at the Smithsonian! -- Bob Baer
  • Wow! Windows is fast, flexible, and stable! -- Bob Baer
  • SNA would be the Internet Protocol. -- Allan Alton
  • There would have been an army of "IBM Certified config.sys engineers" -- Mike Moody
  • The "Wizard of OZ", would be renamed, The "Wizard of OS". -- Josaeph M. Manuto
  • Since our OS/2 computers would be listening to us, we'd all have to learn to think before speaking -- Rhodes Hileman
  • Much less Virus, etc attacks...OS/2 is too hard for most of the skriddies to hack. -- G J Feig
  • Probably less LookoutExpress HTML-attachments on email. -- G J Feig
  • 2.5mhz PCs that actually compute at that speed. -- Jon Z
  • Millions of people who now spend their time reinstalling Windows, recovering from crashes, and rebooting Windows could spend their time doing something productive. The world's economy would grow by leaps and bounds! -- Steve McCrystal
  • No more BSD (Blue Screen of Death)! -- Lionel C. Abrahams
  • Can put my multiprocessors to use -- Lionel C. Abrahams
  • AV software - a microniche product for the truly paranoid -- Felix Miata
  • Defragging software - what's fragmentation? -- Felix Miata
  • Uptime measured in days instead of minutes. -- Felix Miata
  • AOL would never have had the power to buy Time-Warner (what's AOL?) -- Felix Miata
  • Reinstalling - something you do when the HD dies, and you had quit backing up 6 months ago because you never needed those backups. -- Felix Miata
  • Bill Gates' new garage wouldn't have cost more than your expected lifetime income. -- Felix Miata
  • Setup Wizard would no longer be preparing the InstallShield Wizard to assist with the rest of installation; instead, the user would be preparing 3 floppies to recover from the failed installation. -- Andrew Belov
  • You wouldn't have to upgrade your hardware/software every time the OS was upgraded, as unlike Windows, which is neither backward nor forward compatible, the 32-bit versions (2.0+)of OS/2 now in its 11th year, is both, The system architecture is able to be incrementally changed, because it was designed right the first time, and running on the same hardware, OS/2 still has a huge performance lead. -- Mike O'Connor
  • Bill Gates would be my pool boy. -- Jason Hicks

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