[21] in OS/2_Discussion
OS/2 2.0 GA
bjaspan@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (bjaspan@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Sat Apr 11 17:48:58 1992
Forwarded from Amusing_Thoughts:
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[0332] nosaj@ATHENA.MIT.EDU Amusing_Thoughts 04/11/92 14:47 (4 lines)
Subject: Re: How to deflate an OS/2 bigot
$49, eh? how does OS/2 compare to Windows in disk usage, speed,
user-friendliness, etc.? On the other hand, I have quite a few
apps for Windows that I wouldn't want to give up by switching
to OS/2....
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Disk space: OS/2 requires between 15 and 32 meg of disk space,
depending on what you choose to install. You can also delete a great
deal of stuff (there are lots of applets, games, etc., that you may
not want) to get below 15meg; the lowest I've heard so far is 7meg for
a usable system.
Speed: According to the people who have the final release, "very
fast." A 16 MHz 386sx supposedly performs acceptably. However, the
beta version I have is rather slow, and I cannot support this claim.
User-Friendliness: The WorkPlace Shell (OS/2's primary interface) is
almost unanimously praised as a much better interface than Windows,
with a few minor drawbacks. It is a large paradigm shift, and takes a
little getting used to, but is quite effective.
Windows applications: OS/2 supports Windows applications directly; you
do not even have to buy Windows to use them. You can run Windows on a
separate virtual desktop ("fullscreen mode"), or run Windows programs
on the same desktop, side by side with OS/2 programs ("seamless
mode"). Someone on the net ran the PC Magazine Windows benchmark on
the last beta before final release. They reported that OS/2-Windows
fullscreen mode was slightly faster than Windows 3.0 across the board,
and OS/2-Windows seamless mode was slightly slower, and that dialog
boxes were much slower. This, however, was for a beta version on the
final release, which is supposed to be much faster (but no one has
posted benchmark results on the net yet).
Besides disk space (and perhaps memory), I cannot think of a single
technical reason to use Windows instead of OS/2. Furthermore, anyone
that has a 386 machine without at least 60 meg of disk and 4 meg of
ram is wasting their time anyway.
