Autor: Jan R. Plucinski (junidas_at_po.onet.pl)
Data: Fri 17 Dec 1999 - 08:29:26 MET
IBM Quietly Readies "Merced" OS
A company insider who asked not to be identified has revealed to The
13th Floor that IBM has been quietly
preparing a new operating system for Intel's upcoming 64-bit "Merced"
platform. The source leaked
information detailing IBM's marketing drive to kill off the OS/2 brand
name so as not to carry any
unnecessary baggage into this new, vastly improved version of the former
32-bit operating system.
According to this company insider, the project code-named "Phoenix" is
slated to be the first commercial
operating system available for the 64-bit Merced platform when it debuts
in the latter part of Y2K. The
secrecy about the project and the public stance of easing OS/2 into
oblivion was carefully crafted to coincide
with the findings in the Microsoft anti-trust trial with the US
Department of Justice and 19 states by helping
to ensure that industry focus was kept away from "Phoenix" until it is
ready to be unleashed.
Some features of this new 64-bit operating system include full support
for existing 32-bit OS/2 software in a
"virtual machine" similar to the way previous OS/2 releases handled DOS
and Windows 3.1 software, the
familiar WorkPlace Shell graphical user interface, and complete support
for 32-bit Windows applications
thanks to IBM's long, intimate involvement with Windows 95/98 and NT
API's (application programming
interfaces) and a special application loader which accommodates the
differences in binary formats between
OS/2 and Win32. The new OS will also support new 64-bit OS/2
applications being quietly developed by
industry leaders in productivity and internet software with development
assistance from IBM who wishes this
new OS to come onto the scene ready to roll with a variety of popular
software titles, which is where former
OS/2 releases often fell short.
Phoenix will continue to support the HPFS file system for backward
compatibility but includes an enhanced
version of the Journalled File System (JFS) introduced in 1999 with OS/2
Warp Server for eBusiness which
now supports booting the system from JFS volumes and a number of
performance enhancements for the server
market where both Merced and Phoenix will debut. But realizing that a
server is no good without a client,
IBM will develop in parallel a client release of Phoenix with the
server-specific bells and whistles removed
and the official release of Netscape Communicator 5.0 provided as a
WorkPlace Shell enhancement for true
cutting edge web integration with the desktop.
Pricing for the new client and server have not been disclosed nor have
specific names of third party
applications being developed for them. The anonymous source at IBM
requests that all loyal OS/2 users unite
and send IBM a very direct and meaningful message that we want this to
be the real future of OS/2 and not
just something I wrote up in the middle of the night for laughs.
Oh yes, and all trademarks mentioned in this farce belong to their
respective companies.
Gdybyż to była prawda....
To archiwum zostało wygenerowane przez hypermail 2.1.7 : Tue 18 May 2004 - 15:24:45 MET DST