[507] in OS/2_Discussion
Response to WSJ
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (ASIMPSON@BOSTON.VNET.IBM.COM)
Mon Apr 17 15:14:50 1995
From: ASIMPSON@BOSTON.VNET.IBM.COM
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 95 15:11:36 EDT
To: os2partners@MIT.EDU
April 11, 1995
Mr. Robert L. Bartley
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
Dear Mr. Bartley:
As your reporter Jim Carlton notes in the April 6 article, "Will
IBM and Apple Operating Systems Fall to Microsoft?", IBM
certainly does disagree with the conclusions attributed to
Dataquest analyst Robert Enderle concerning IBM's future plans
for the OS/2 operating system.
Contrary to Mr. Enderle's views, IBM is firmly committed to OS/2
-- we have no plans to "pull the plug" on OS/2 in 1996 or to
adopt Apple's Mac OS. We are encouraged by growing customer and
software developer interest in OS/2, especially the enthusiastic
response we've had to the latest version, OS/2 Warp.
We would question how Mr. Enderle can express so much certainty
about the future of Windows 95 -- Microsoft's ambitious attempt
to transform its outdated technology into a robust, multi-tasking,
32-bit operating environment. In essence, to match what IBM
already provides in OS/2. While we, too, fully expect Microsoft
to deliver a marketing blitz if it manages to ship its product as
expected in August, it remains to be seen whether the stability,
reliability and performance that users require -- and can get
today from OS/2 --- will be there. Until Windows 95 ships, and
until there are 32-bit applications to exploit it, any
conclusions about its future are premature.
