[331] in OS/2_Discussion
Lee Reiswig Response to Manes Article
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Joseph Giaime)
Tue Nov 8 10:47:27 1994
Date: Tue, 8 Nov 94 10:46:21 EST
From: Joseph Giaime <giaime@tristan.mit.edu>
To: os2partners@MIT.EDU
============PSPINFO PSP Information on OS/2, LAN Systems and DOS=============
Rebuttal Sent to Letters Editor, The New York Times
November 7, 1994
The following letter has been sent to the the NY Times in response to the
Stephen Manes' Personal Computers column in the paper's Oct. 25 edition.
Letters Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036-3959
Dear Sir:
I have read Stephen Manes' Personal Computers column in your October 25
issue several times, and every time I wonder why it didn't run on the
op ed page. It doesn't appear to be an objective evaluation of a new
product. Manes obscures any valid observations he may have with the
acerbity of his writing. IBM worked with Mr. Manes throughout the
review, and I assure you, the product never had a chance.
He begins with a description of IBM's "self delusion in sticking with
technically superior products long after the wider world has found them
wanting." The six million users of OS/2, many of them large
corporations all over the world who are using the product for their
most important computing applications, have not found it wanting. In
fact, the London Press Association is using OS/2 Warp to build its
"News Room 2000" -- because of OS/2's ease of use, its multimedia
features, and because in its first full year of intense use there, OS/2
has never failed. Manes calls these OS/2 users "a fanatical band of
adherents with too much time on their hands."
Next, he says that Warp "does little to improve IBM's reputation for
writing wretched personal computer software." In fact, conventional
wisdom holds that IBM writes superior PC software that has not been
marketed well. OS/2 won over 43 industry awards last year, including
several "readers' choice" awards. IBM's Personal Dictation System
is widely acclaimed as an innovative, beautifully executed speech
recognition product, and was recently awarded Discover Magazine's
1994 award for innovative computer software. IBM's LAN Server 4.0
network operating system shipped last month to rave reviews.
Then Manes proceeds to his evaluation of the product. He notes that 15
minutes after he "selected the wrong video software," Warp's Resource
Manager told him that he didn't have the appropriate adapter on his
machine for the software he selected. Most users consider this conflict
detection a feature of the product.
His second issue with the product was indeed a problem with the software.
Last week, IBM briefly -- and very publicly -- stopped production lines
to correct the problem before Warp was widely available in the retail
channel. We are absolutely committed to ensuring our customers get the
highest quality product we can deliver.
As for Mr. Manes' further problems:
- Warp's Internet software didn't work because IBM's service network
wasn't up and running yet, which we advised him of before he
installed the software he received in advance of broad availability.
- The standard benchmark he used to test Warp's performance was
designed to test 16-bit Windows apps. The benchmark provider has
publicly stated that it is not an appropriate benchmark for
testing OS/2's performance (OS/2 is a 32-bit operating system).
We advised Manes of this while he was doing his testing.
- The drivers he complains are not supplied with the product
are indeed for the newest products. So new, in fact, that we had
gone to final testing before they were available. Manes was assured
in advance of his writing that these drivers will be available for
Warp by the end of the year.
- And finally, Warp's "own interface" is widely considered a strength
of the product. While it requires users to work differently than
they do in Windows, we find that most of them want to -- that's why
they use OS/2.
IBM is proud of this product, of its evolution to the stable, high
performance, easy to use platform it is today. We feel that Mr. Manes
did not give the product a fair evaluation and regret that the New York
Times ran what reads like an editorial on IBM's fitness as a provider
of personal computing software as an objective evaluation of a product.
Sincerely,
Leland R. Reiswig
General Manager
IBM Personal Software Products
