Not dead yet...

[Anders Gjerløv]

> I have no experience of the BeOS but I think you hit the nail on the =

head
> when you say that the problem is a shortage of applications.
But no shortage on raw power. This OS is so fast and stable it makes =

NT look like a single-celled extinct organism compared to a higher 
living organism. I do hope that apps for BeOS will come - call me 
naive, but I do hope so.

> Problem is that an operating system is unlikely to achieve  
significant
> market penetration without the major applications being available for =

it ...
There's even more to it than that. You also need to have people that =

know how to program for the os, and right now the trend is toward 
Linux :-/

> I probably wouldn't upgrade if the upgrade cost money - why should I?=

> PMmail currently does everything I want. I sometimes look at the "wish=

> lists" that appear on this  mailing list but most of them I don't 
understand ..
If no neccesary benefits are in the new version - agreed - don't 
upgrade. Like my reason for not wanting Windows 98.

> I find it difficult to believe that Soutsoft now receive any new 
registrations
> for the OS/2 version of PMmail. So far as I'm aware you can't even buy=

> the operating system any more.
Sure you can buy it. Not from the shelves, but it's available.

> Maybe there are still a few users of OS/2
> who have not yet upgraded from the pathetic mail client that it comes =

with
> but I find this difficult to believe.
But if the existing users will pay for an upgrade. . . Who knows. It's =

not my call anyway.

> What I was suggesting was that if they still are developing an OS/2 =

version
> it must be on a hobby basis because I can't see how it could be a
> commercial proposition.
I have no idea of the amount of registration PMMail/2 has - and not 
knowing this figure, I don't know what to reply. But IF Southsoft does =

release new versions of PMMail/2, then they must feel that it's worth =

it economically for some reason. It's too big a project IMHO to work =

on as a hobby.

> Until about 18 months ago I had used nothing but OS/2 but commercial
> pressures forced me to migrate to NT; undoubtedly it lacks some of the=

> elegance of OS/2 but it is at least as robust and above all has a 
wealth of
> applications available. I would be genuinely interested to learn, ( =

leaving on
> one side the lack of applications), what benefits I could expect if I =

were to
> switch to another operating system .
Agreed - NT is relatively robust (as is OS/2). My primary reason for =

not wanting NT anywhere near my pc's (if I can avoid it ;) is that I =

don't like the fact that it's sooooooo slow. They have too much poorly =

written code in NT. In order to get a good performance, I need to get =

a much more powerful pc than even with Windows 95 (which is not 
stable, but at least it's fast). BeOS decided not to care about being =

compatible with existing apps - and is designed to utilize modern 
pc's. The result - very simplified! - is that it works incredibly fast =

(a full startup of the os until the point where you can work with the =

ui with no problems is app. 20 seconds on a Pentium 166 with 32 MB 
RAM. NT takes several minutes! 3½ last time I tested before it seemed =

to be finished booting and starting services), no reboots are required =

- all changes can be made dynamically!! I haven't seen a crash yet (ok =

- I haven't worked it as hard as I have ever worked OS/2). The full 
installation takes app. 15 minutes - and is simple (compared to 
several Linux distributions) and fully graphical.

But the way I see it - no OS at the moment comes closer than app. 60% =

to perfection. Well - not quite true ;o) PalmOS is on about 85%. Sad =

but true. WinX has strength in apps, but is bulky and slow (NT), or 
very unstable (9x). OS/2 has strength in design, but few apps, and 
receeding support. Mac is relatively good - but the OS is slow and 
bulky (think of all the power you have and just how slow the UI is). =

Linux has strength in support at the moment, relative good amount of =

apps - but it is NOT simple to set up and use. BeOS has strength in 
the best thought out os of them all, but the apps are only slowly 
coming. From evaluting them all, I either need Linux to get even 
better, or (ideally) for BeOS to get apps. Until then it's Win 95 and =

OS/2 for me :-/

Now I excuse for this quite offtopic post. Hope you can forgive me :o)

Anders