After years of anticipation and a lot of marketing hype about the "Next Generation" of personal computing, IBM and Microsoft have finally shipped OS/2 1.0. This is the OS that's supposed to finally break the chains of DOS and the 640KB memory limit.
Finally, Protected Mode
Unlike DOS, which is stuck in Real Mode, OS/2 is designed from the ground up to run in the 80286's Protected Mode. This means we finally get preemptive multitasking, memory protection, and access to a full 16MB of RAM. No more "Expanded Memory" drivers and bank-switching headaches!
However, there’s a catch. This version is text-mode only. The "Presentation Manager" (the GUI) is still months away.
The DOS Compatibility Box
One of the biggest selling points is the "DOS Compatibility Box." But in reality, it's more of a "DOS penalty box." Because of the 286's limitations (you can't easily switch back from Protected Mode to Real Mode), the DOS box is finicky and many programs simply won't run in it.
# OS/2 uses a familiar command line, but with more power
[C:\] DETACH myproc.exe
# Running a process in the background!
A Divided House
You can feel the tension in this release. IBM wants OS/2 to be the gateway to their mainframes (SAA compliance), while Microsoft seems to be hedging their bets with Windows.
As a developer, I’m torn. OS/2’s APIs are much cleaner and more "Unix-like" than the mess that is Windows 2.0. But the hardware requirements are steep: you need a 286 (or 386) and at least 2MB of RAM. In a world where most PCs still have 640KB, OS/2 feels like a luxury. It’s technically superior to DOS in every way, but I wonder if technical superiority is enough to win the OS wars.