GUI

[Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill]

On Thu, 27 Nov 2003, James Knott wrote:
> The WPS can do so much more, that I don't know where to start.

I will differ with you by claiming the WPS wasn't very exciting if you
stuck to the stock shell.  The great part about the WPS was that third
party developers could extend it: if you want a trash can, inherit the
properties of a folder then add a few more.  You have already extended
the folder with another vendor's product?  Your trash can will inherit
those properties too.  Alas, most of those extensions came late in the
game.  There was little to entice new users to switch from Windows.

> I have found the multitasking in OS/2 to be better than Linux and far
> better still than Windows.

Since I haven't used OS/2 in years, I don't have a good comparison.
I do recall having some fun with a friend: the two of us played a video
while launching a large application.  The then new Windows 95 couldn't
handle it on a fully loaded Pentium 166.  OS/2, on my 486 DX-50, skipped
a few frames but the audio was continuous.  I never tried comparing it
to Linux.  In those days, Linux could do a fraction of what OS/2 or
Windows could.  Oddly enough, Linux was plenty for my needs.

As for why it failed: Microsoft could sell people on upgrading their
machines for this fantastic new product (ie. Windows 95).  IBM couldn't
do the same.

Byron.
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