[Intro]
Hello!
Certainly everyone knows the Windows NT family of systems from Microsoft. This is understandable - after all, this system is probably on the computer from which you access the Internet and watch this video, ...
...installed in various terminals, ATMs, cash registers in a supermarket in your city, and so on.
Windows NT holds over 80% of the computer device market worldwide But, few people asked the question: what was there before Windows NT, and how did this it even appear?
And we will find out the answer to this question in this video - today we will look at the OS/2 operating system from IBM: we will find out how it came into being; install this, review its interface; let's see what happened to her in 2021 and draw the appropriate conclusions.
It all began on August 1, 1984, when IBM announced the release of a new generation of personal computers - the IBM PC/AT, and began to develop a new operating system for these machines.
The new OS had to overcome the DOS limit of 640 KB of memory for application programs and implement support for multitasking mode.
In parallel with the development of Windows, Microsoft Corporation, together with IBM, was actively involved in the creation of a system called OS/2. But in October 1989, the Microsoft and IBM partnership began to fall apart.
Microsoft, concerned about conquering the operating system market, is taking over the developing next full 32-bit OS/2 3.0, while IBM is focusing on developing OS/2 2.0. But it was, in fact, a "scam" - developed by Microsoft OS/2 3.0, does not even retain its name and is shown at ComDex 1991 under the name Windows NT as the first Windows with preemptive multitasking.
And in the early 90s, the paths of the two giants of the IT industry finally parted ways.
Microsoft begins development of Windows 3.0 independently of IBM. And later, all the developments of OS/2 Version 3, Microsoft transferred to the new Windows NT.
But after those events, Microsoft still followed the development of this system and some of the interface elements in Windows 95 were taken from OS/2. And before the Windows XP version, the system even had support for OS/2 applications and you could easily try to run an application that was intended for OS/2 on a Windows system.
OS/2 developed until 1999: the last version was numbered as Warp 4.5, and in 2001 Serenity Systems entered into a partnership agreement with IBM and released its modified version of OS/2 - eComStation, which developed until 2013. In 2015, a new modification called ArcaOS appeared and it is being developed to this day.
The review takes part in the latest original OS/2 from IBM - OS/2 Warp 4.5.
During loading, we are greeted by a beautiful static loading screen and after that we are greeted by the desktop.
There are already several icons on the desktop that open certain system folders for quick access to system settings and launch certain programs. Even the Netscape browser is included.
Desktop icons do not move here. Below is a kind of taskbar that contains a huge number of buttons. Clicking on the button with the system logo opens the list, which is similar to folders and desktop shortcuts
The button with three windows shows a list of open tasks in the system, but the Alt+Tab combination is also present
Pressing the lock button opens the password change, and pressing the flashlight button opens the search for files hard drives window.
In general, there are really a huge number of buttons.
There is a clock in the right corner of the taskbar, but if you click on it, the clock will change to show the date, and if you do this again, you opened timer.
The system has support for running applications from Windows 3.x using a special environment WIN-OS/2, which was made specifically by Microsoft for OS/2. That is, we have a system in a system. So, now, let's go through the programs that come with OS/2.
So, first, let's go through the most basic
The system supports a bunch of popular (at that time) media formats, so the system comes with a bunch of utilities out of the box for playing a particular file.
Namely...
Photo viewer
Audio player and sound editor
Video player
Now, let's review standard OS/2 games. There are not very many of them in OS/2, because IBM hardly expected that all businessmen, without exception, would play at work or on a business trip. Therefore, today we have only three games out of the box for OS/2, and now we will talk about them.
OS/2 Chess.
The most common chess. There are three variants of the game to choose from: a person with a person, a person with a computer and, of course, a person with a person on the network. But IBM went further: in what century did it allow a computer to play... with a computer!
It sounds funny, but the computer can really be made to play chess with itself. You can contemplate an example of such a game on your screens.
It sounds funny, but the computer can really be made to play chess with itself. You can contemplate an example of such a game on your screens. [ Full game session uploaded in my second channel] [ Link to my second channel included in description :3 ]
Klondike Solitaire
Remember Windows XP Solitaire?
This, one might say, is his great-grandfather.
Everything converges: this game was not released on the Windows 9x platform, here are the cards, plus the gameplay is almost identical to the Solitaire in Windows XP. Well, you understand, right? And the last game...
Mahjong Solitaire
The most common Mahjong, only for OS/2. Nothing out of the ordinary. Well, the graphics leave much to be desired, but in those days the monitors were different, so it didn't really stand out.
Unfortunately, the system is not very rich in various software that could be viewed. But there is still something.
For example, the system has a debugger that runs as a service and then outputs everything to its console.
The system also came with a package for the development and launching of Java programs. Unfortunately, there is no interpreter here, but this is not critical - mostly programs in this language are written directly, without trying any expressions outside the development environment.
Let's talk about a standard utilities
OS/2 System Editor
This application allows the user to edit the contents of system files such as AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. In fact, this is another notepad, almost the same as in Windows.
The system editor is followed by the "improved" one - if that program at the edges of Windows was considered a notepad, then this is a full-fledged WordPad.
However, unlike the same WordPad, this editor had an undeniable advantage. And it's not just the interface...
There was a built-in command line here.
And believe me, it even worked.
File search engine. Remember how in Windows XP you called the doggy assistant in File Explorer to help you find the file? We can say again that this is his great-grandfather.
Icon editor. It is very cool that IBM allowed to make their own icons and cursors for the system. It gave freedom to a lot of people, and for many it was fun - when there is nothing to do, you just launch the icon editor and make wonders.
And finally, the OS/2 Task Manager.
He is not such a great-grandfather of the Windows Task Manager, but they have a lot in common. Some are better, some are worse, all have their advantages and disadvantages.
For example, the OS/2 Task Manager is able to stop the processor cores.
If you have a single-core computer, will work the protection - the system simply will not let you do it, because how can it continue to work?
Unfortunately, this OS did not gain popularity in Russia, but for that it was very popular among corporate clients and network-engineers.
But if it weren't for OS/2 and its quarrel with Microsoft, it's hard to imagine what the world would be like without Windows NT. Maybe everyone would used Linux?
..or has the original OS/2 been updated so far?
That's all. Thanks for watching! It was Daniel. If you liked this video, leave a like and subscribe to the channel, I will be very grateful. Until next time!