[GTALUG] example of why RISC was a good idea

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: James Knott <james.knott at rogers.com>
| 
| Actually, OS/2 lasted for quite a while in the financial sector because
| it was far more stable than Windows.

I remember hearing that Imperial Oil used it a lot (from someone
having to deal with migrating away).

Technical qualities might not have mattered.  Banks and big oil
companies computerized early and they seemed to be infected early with
the idea that IBM was always the safe choice.

They also bought into Token Ring for a similar reason.  Yet the open
ethernet standard and marketplace one.  It was just hard for central
planners to handle.

I was annoyed at OS/2 because it was announced long before it
was reasonable to use it.  UNIX was ready and able to do the job but
the earth was scorched by these promises.  Of course it looked safer
to wait for IBM and Microsoft (the old reliable AND the young turks).

This is an echo of the lawsuit that CDC brought against IBM in the
1960s.  CDC had supercomputers but sales were blocked by IBM promises
that were put off and then never actually delivered (hear of an actual
IBM/360 model 60 or 70?  The model 90 was poor and soon replaced.
Before that, Stretch (7030) was a failure too.).

It is a bit like the Itanium.  Most of the RISC processor workstation
vendors folded (or were folded) when the Itanium loomed.  In actual
delivery it was a bit of a squib: late and slow.  This bought time for
the x86 to get good enough so that it won.