Editing OS/2 (section)

===1990–1996: Post-breakup{{anchor|32-bit era}}===
====OS/2 2.0 (1992){{anchor|2.0}}====
[[Image:Os2-2.0-wps.png|right|thumb|OS/2 2.0 was the first 32-bit release of OS/2, and the first to feature the Workplace Shell.]]

OS/2 2.0 was released in April 1992. At the time, the suggested retail price was {{US$|195}}, while Windows retailed for {{US$|long=no|150}}.<ref name="Baltimore_Sun">{{cite news |last=Corr |first=O. Casey |title=GIANT-KILLER? Microsoft mounts challenge to IBM |format=Not available in the EU; check the archive URL instead |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |date=1992-04-06 |url= https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-04-06-1992097044-story.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200305171806/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-04-06-1992097044-story.html |archive-date=2020-03-05}}</ref>

OS/2 2.0 provided a 32-bit API for native programs, though the OS itself still contained some 16-bit code and drivers. It also included a new OOUI (object-oriented user interface) called the [[Workplace Shell]]. This was a fully object-oriented interface that was a significant departure from the previous GUI. Rather than merely providing an environment for program windows (such as the Program Manager), the Workplace Shell provided an environment in which the user could manage programs, files and devices by manipulating objects on the screen. With the Workplace Shell, everything in the system is an "object" to be manipulated.

OS/2 2.0 was touted by IBM as "a better DOS than DOS and a better Windows than Windows".<ref>{{cite news |title=Killer Apps: For Apple's Windows Strategy to Work, It Must Replace Microsoft Office and Buy Adobe Systems |author=Robert X. Cringely |work=pbs.org |date=27 April 2006 |url= https://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2006/pulpit_20060427_000894.html}}</ref> It managed this by including the fully-licensed MS-DOS 5.0, which had been patched and improved upon. For the first time, OS/2 was able to run more than one DOS application at a time. This was so effective that it allowed OS/2 to run a modified copy of Windows 3.0, itself a [[DOS extender]], including Windows 3.0 applications.

Because of the limitations of the [[Intel 80286]] processor, OS/2 1.x could run only one DOS program at a time, and did this in a way that allowed the DOS program to have total control over the computer. A problem in DOS mode could crash the entire computer. In contrast, OS/2 2.0 could leverage the [[virtual 8086 mode]] of the [[Intel 80386]] processor to create a much safer [[virtual machine]] in which to run DOS programs. This included an extensive set of configuration options to optimize the performance and capabilities given to each DOS program. Any real-mode operating system (such as 8086 [[Xenix]]) could also be made to run using OS/2's virtual machine capabilities, subject to certain direct hardware access limitations.

[[Image:OS2 2.0 upgrade box.png|right|thumb|The OS/2 2.0 upgrade box]]

Like most 32-bit environments, OS/2 could not run protected-mode DOS programs using the older [[VCPI]] interface, unlike the Standard mode of Windows 3.1; it only supported programs written according to [[DOS Protected Mode Interface|DPMI]]. (Microsoft discouraged the use of VCPI under Windows 3.1, however, due to performance degradation.)<ref>{{cite web|title=Windows 3.1 Standard Mode and the VCPI |author=Microsoft |work=support.microsoft.com |date=6 November 1999 |url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/82298 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309020041/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/82298 |archive-date=March 9, 2013 }}</ref>

Unlike Windows NT, OS/2 always allowed DOS programs the possibility of masking real hardware interrupts, so any DOS program could [[deadlock (computer science)|deadlock]] the machine in this way. OS/2 could, however, use a hardware [[non-maskable interrupt|watchdog]] on selected machines (notably IBM machines) to break out of such a deadlock. Later, release 3.0 leveraged the enhancements of newer [[i486|Intel 80486]] and [[Pentium (original)|Intel Pentium]] processors&mdash;the [[Virtual Interrupt Flag]] (VIF), which was part of the [[Virtual Mode Extensions]] (VME)&mdash;to solve this problem.

To accommodate those who wanted to have multiple operating systems on their machine, Boot Manager was introduced that allowed for the creation of separate partitions on the boot drive which could be used to install different versions of DOS, Windows and OS/2 and give the user a choice of which partition to boot from.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-08-05 |title=Using OS/2 Boot Manager to install multiple operating systems on a single hard file - IBM PC/IBM IntelliStation |url=https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/using-os2-boot-manager-install-multiple-operating-systems-single-hard-file-ibm-pcibm-intellistation |access-date=2025-05-05 |website=www.ibm.com |language=en}}</ref>
{{Further|VME (CONFIG.SYS directive)}}

====OS/2 2.1 (1993){{anchor|2.1}}====
OS/2 2.1 was released in 1993. This version of OS/2 achieved compatibility with Windows 3.0 (and later Windows 3.1) by adapting Windows user-mode code components to run inside a [[virtual DOS machine]] (VDM). Originally, a nearly complete version of Windows code was included with OS/2 itself: Windows 3.0 in OS/2 2.0, and Windows 3.1 in OS/2 2.1. Later, IBM developed versions of OS/2 that would use whatever Windows version the user had installed previously, patching it on the fly, and sparing the cost of an additional Windows license.<ref>{{cite web |title=Team OS/2 Frequently Asked Questions |author=Christian Alice Scarborough |date=15 September 1998 |url=http://www.faqs.org/faqs/Team-OS2-FAQ/}}</ref> It could either run full-screen, using its own set of video drivers, or "seamlessly," where Windows programs would appear directly on the OS/2 desktop. The process containing Windows was given fairly extensive access to hardware, especially video, and the result was that switching between a full-screen WinOS/2 session and the Workplace Shell could occasionally cause issues.<ref>{{cite web |title=OS/2 Games Setting Archive |work=Game Zero magazine |date=6 March 1995 |url=http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/pc_games/os2.html |access-date=9 June 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614014635/http://www.gamezero.com/team-0/pc_games/os2.html |archive-date=14 June 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Because OS/2 only runs the user-mode system components of Windows, it is incompatible with Windows device drivers ([[VxD]]s) and applications that require them.

Multiple Windows applications run by default in a single Windows session – multitasking cooperatively and without memory protection – just as they would under native Windows 3.x. However, to achieve true isolation between Windows 3.x programs, OS/2 can also run multiple copies of Windows in parallel, with each copy residing in a separate VDM. The user can then optionally place each program either in its own Windows session – with preemptive multitasking and full memory protection ''between'' sessions, though not ''within'' them – or allow some applications to run together cooperatively in a shared Windows session while isolating other applications in one or more separate Windows sessions. At the cost of additional hardware resources, this approach can protect each program in any given Windows session (and each instance of Windows itself) from every other program running in any ''separate'' Windows session (though not from other programs running in the same Windows session).<ref name="pcw199407_os2">{{ cite magazine | title=OS/2 for Windows | magazine=Personal Computer World | date=July 1994 | last1=Bidmead | first1=Chris | pages=251–252 }}</ref>

Whether Windows applications are running in full-screen or windowed mode, and in one Windows session or several, it is possible to use [[Dynamic Data Exchange|DDE]] between OS/2 and Windows applications, and [[Object Linking and Embedding|OLE]] between Windows applications only.<ref>{{cite web |title=OS/2 Warp Frequently Asked Questions List |author=Timothy F. Sipples |date=20 February 1995 |url=https://www.mit.edu/activities/os2/faq/os2faq0103.html}}</ref>

IBM's '''OS/2 for Windows''' product (codename Ferengi), also known as "OS/2, Special Edition", was interpreted as a deliberate strategy "of cashing in on the pervasive success of the Microsoft platform" but risked confusing consumers with the notion that the product was a mere accessory or utility running on Windows such as [[Norton Commander|Norton Desktop for Windows]] when, in fact, it was "a complete, modern, multi-tasking, pre-emptive operating system", itself hosting Windows instead of running on it. Available on CD-ROM or 18 floppy disks, the product documentation reportedly suggested Windows as a prerequisite for installing the product, also being confined to its original FAT partition, whereas the product apparently supported the later installation of Windows running from an HPFS partition, particularly beneficial for users of larger hard drives. Windows compatibility, relying on patching specific memory locations, was reportedly broken by the release of Windows 3.11, prompting accusations of arbitrary changes to Windows in order to perpetrate "a deliberate act of Microsoft sabotage" against IBM's product.<ref name="pcw199407_os2"/>

====OS/2 Warp 3 (1994){{anchor|OS/2 Warp|3.0|3.0J|The "Warp" years}}====
{{multiple image
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| image1            = OS-2 Warp Version 3 wordmark.svg
| caption1          = Wordmark of OS/2 Warp 3.0
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| caption2          = OS/2 Warp Connect 3.0, showing the Windows 3.1 [[Program Manager]], [[QBASIC]] in a DOS window, and the LaunchPad (bottom center)
}}

Released in 1994, OS/2 version 3.0 was labelled as '''OS/2 Warp''' to highlight the new performance benefits, and generally to freshen the product image. "Warp" had originally been the internal IBM name for the release: IBM claimed that it had used ''[[Star Trek]]'' terms as internal names for prior OS/2 releases, and that this one seemed appropriate for external use as well. At the launch of OS/2 Warp in 1994, [[Patrick Stewart]] was to be the [[Master of Ceremonies]]; however [[Kate Mulgrew]]<ref name="KateMulgrewBioIMDB">{{cite web | title=Biography for Kate Mulgrew | website=Internet Movie Database | url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000550/bio | quote=In 1996, was contracted by IBM to help promote the latest release of OS/2 Warp, version 4 (previously codenamed Merlin), due to associations with Star Trek.}}</ref> of the then-upcoming series ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' substituted for him at the last minute.<ref name="InSearchofStupidityWeb">{{cite web |url=http://www.insearchofstupidity.com/ch6.htm |title=In Search of Stupidity, Excerpts from Chapter 6 |website=Insearchofstupidity.com |access-date=April 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130127185712/http://www.insearchofstupidity.com/ch6.htm |archive-date=January 27, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="InSearchofStupidityBook">{{cite book | title=In Search of Stupidity: Over 20 Years of High-tech Marketing Disasters | first=Merrill R. | last=Chapman | date=2006 | publisher=Apress | location=Berkeley, California | edition=2nd | isbn= 9781590597217 | oclc=71275572 | medium=Paperback | quote=They rented a hall in New York City and invited hundreds to see Patrick Stewart, the then current captain of the Starship Enterprise to help roll out the product in a gala event. (Stewart was a no-show.|page=108)}}</ref>

OS/2 Warp offers a host of benefits over OS/2 2.1, notably broader hardware support, greater multimedia capabilities, [[Internet]]-compatible networking, and it includes a basic office application suite known as [[IBM Works]]. It was released in two versions: the less expensive "Red Spine" and the more expensive "Blue Spine" (named for the color of their boxes). "Red Spine" was designed to support [[Microsoft Windows]] applications by utilizing any existing installation of Windows on the computer's hard drive. "Blue Spine" includes Windows support in its own installation, and so can support Windows applications without a Windows installation. As most computers were sold with Microsoft Windows pre-installed and the price was less, "Red Spine" was the more popular product.<ref name="ars201311">{{cite web |last1=Reimer |first1=Jeremy |title=Half an operating system: The triumph and tragedy of OS/2 |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/half-an-operating-system-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-os2/ |website=[[Ars Technica]] |access-date=4 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326084822/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/11/half-an-operating-system-the-triumph-and-tragedy-of-os2/ |archive-date=26 March 2023 |date=November 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> OS/2 Warp Connect—which has full LAN client support built-in—followed in mid-1995. Warp Connect was nicknamed "Grape".<ref name=Both1996 />

In OS/2 2.0, most performance-sensitive subsystems, including the graphics (Gre) and multimedia (MMPM/2) systems, were updated to 32-bit code in a fixpack, and included as part of OS/2 2.1. Warp 3 brought about a fully 32-bit windowing system, while Warp 4 introduced the object-oriented 32-bit GRADD display driver model.

====Workplace OS (1995) {{Anchor|Workplace OS|WorkplaceOS}}====
{{Main|Workplace OS}}
In 1991, IBM started development on an intended replacement for OS/2 called [[Workplace OS]]. This was an entirely new product, brand new code, that borrowed only a few sections of code from both the existing OS/2 and AIX products. It used an entirely new microkernel code base, intended (eventually) to host several of IBM's operating systems (including OS/2) as microkernel "personalities". It also included major new architectural features including a system registry, JFS, support for UNIX graphics libraries, and a new driver model.<ref name="WorkplaceMicrokernelandOS">{{cite tech report | url=http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~brett/PAPERS/SPE97/REVISED/techreport.ps | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070824050732/http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~brett/PAPERS/SPE97/REVISED/techreport.ps | archive-date=August 24, 2007 | access-date=March 25, 2013 | title=Workplace Microkernel and OS: A Case Study | first1=Brett D | last1=Fleisch | first2=Mark | last2=Allan | date=September 23, 1997 | publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |format=PostScript }}</ref>

Workplace OS was developed solely for [[PowerPC|POWER platforms]], and IBM intended to market a full line of PowerPCs in an effort to take over the market from [[Intel]]. A mission was formed to create prototypes of these machines and they were disclosed to several corporate customers, all of whom raised issues with the idea of dropping Intel.

Advanced plans for the new code base would eventually include replacement of the [[OS/400]] operating system by Workplace OS, as well as a microkernel product that would have been used in industries such as telecommunications and set-top television receivers.

A partially functional pre-alpha version of Workplace OS was demonstrated at Comdex, where a bemused [[Bill Gates]] stopped by the booth. The second and last time it would be shown in public was at an OS/2 user group in [[Phoenix, Arizona]]; the pre-alpha code refused to boot.

It was released in 1995. But with $990 million being spent per year on development of this as well as Workplace OS, and no possible profit or widespread adoption, the end of the entire Workplace OS and OS/2 product line was near.

====OS/2 Warp 4 (1996){{anchor|Warp 4|4.0|4.5}}====
[[Image:Firefox 3.5.4 on OS2 Warp4.png|thumb|left|Firefox 3.5.4 for OS/2 Warp 4]]
{{multiple image
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| image1            = OS-2 Warp 4 wordmark.svg
| caption1          = Wordmark of OS/2 Warp 4
| image2            = OS-2 W4.png
| caption2          = OS/2 Warp 4 desktop after installation
}}

In 1996, Warp 4 added [[Java (programming language)|Java]] and [[speech recognition]] software.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Edwards |first1=Ben J. |title=OS/2's Last Stand: IBM OS/2 Warp 4 Turns 25 |url=https://www.howtogeek.com/755650/os2s-last-stand-ibm-os2-warp-4-turns-25/ |website=www.howtogeek.com |date=26 September 2021 |publisher=HowToGeek |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> IBM also released server editions of Warp 3 and Warp 4 which bundled IBM's LAN Server product directly into the operating system installation. A personal version of [[IBM Notes|Lotus Notes]] was also included, with a number of template databases for contact management, brainstorming, and so forth. The UK-distributed free demo [[CD-ROM]] of OS/2 Warp essentially contained the entire OS and was easily, even accidentally, [[Software cracking|cracked]]{{clarify|date=November 2012}}, meaning that even people who liked it did not have to buy it. This was seen as a backdoor tactic to increase the number of OS/2 users, in the belief that this would increase sales and demand for third-party applications, and thus strengthen OS/2's desktop numbers.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} This suggestion was bolstered by the fact that this demo version had replaced another which was not so easily cracked, but which had been released with trial versions of various applications.{{Citation needed|date=April 2010}} In 2000, the July edition of ''[[Australian Personal Computer]]'' magazine bundled software CD-ROMs, included a full version of Warp 4 that required no activation and was essentially a free release. Special versions of OS/2 2.11 and Warp 4 also included [[symmetric multiprocessing]] (SMP) support.

OS/2 sales were largely concentrated in networked computing used by corporate professionals; however, by the early 1990s, it was overtaken by Microsoft Windows NT. While OS/2 was arguably technically superior to Microsoft [[Windows 95]], OS/2 failed to develop much penetration in the consumer and stand-alone desktop PC segments; there were reports that it could not be installed properly on IBM's own [[IBM Aptiva|Aptiva]] series of home PCs.<ref name="OS2NoLongerHomeatHome">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/08/science/personal-computers-os-2-no-longer-at-home-at-home.html?src=pm | work=The New York Times | first=Peter H. | last=Lewis | title=PERSONAL COMPUTERS; OS/2 No Longer at Home at Home | date=8 August 1995}}</ref> Microsoft made an offer in 1994 where IBM would receive the same terms as [[Compaq]] (the largest PC manufacturer at the time) for a license of Windows 95, if IBM ended development of OS/2 completely. IBM refused and instead went with an "IBM First" strategy of promoting OS/2 Warp and disparaging Windows, as IBM aimed to drive sales of its own software as well as hardware. By 1995, Windows 95 negotiations between IBM and Microsoft, which were already difficult, stalled when IBM purchased [[Lotus SmartSuite]], which would have directly competed with [[Microsoft Office]]. As a result of the dispute, IBM signed the license agreement 15 minutes before Microsoft's Windows 95 launch event, which was later than their competitors and this badly hurt sales of IBM PCs. IBM officials later conceded that OS/2 would not have been a viable operating system to keep them in the PC business.<ref name="MSUrgedIBMtoYankSmartsuite">{{cite journal | title=MS/DoJ: Microsoft urged IBM to yank Smart Suite | first=Elizabeth | last=Wasserman | date=June 8, 1999 | journal=PC World | url=http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/105777/ms_doj_microsoft_urged_ibm_yank_smart_suite/ | access-date=April 10, 2013 | archive-date=January 16, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116121938/http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/105777/ms_doj_microsoft_urged_ibm_yank_smart_suite/ | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.albion.com/microsoft/findings-23.html |title=C. The Similar Experiences of Other Firms in Dealing with Microsoft |website=Albion.com |access-date=2013-03-20}}</ref>