The contents of the body of this page are 100% Copyright (C) 1991 by PC Week magazine, now known as eWeek. It is my hope that they will view the few selected articles that I have posted on my site as a tribute. As far as I know, these back issues are not available anywhere on-line.
OS/2 2.0 Beta Flexes Muscle, but Shell Confuses Users
PC Week - 1991-11-04 - Page 5 - by Paul M. Sherer
IBM's latest OS/2 beta highlights the power of its multitasking ability and adds a number of powerful features, but feedback from beta testers and an examination of the release by PC Week indicate that the new Workplace Shell user interface can be confusing.
A number of beta testers also said the new release, numbered 6.167, was able to run Windows applications full-screen in standard mode without a hitch. However, bugs remain to be worked out with OS/2's installation program and High Performance File System, they said.
The desktop metaphor used in the Workplace Shell goes far beyond Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3 in terms of direct manipulation of visual objects. It lets users print files by dropping them on the print icon or delete them by dropping them on the "shredder" icon. It also uses a new file-organization metaphor, letting users easily combine file and application icons in folders and move them between folders, as Macintosh users have been able to do for years. The change eliminates much of the distinction between the File Manager and Program Manager that exists in both Windows and OS/2 1.3.
However, some beta testers have found it hard to understand the new shell, an experience duplicated during PC Week's examination of the beta. Testers reported difficulty determining how to perform actions such as file operations and were confused by the lack of a menu bar. Under the new shell, menus pop up by clicking on objects with the right mouse button.
"A number of people are sort of lost playing with it," said Doug Hamilton, president of Hamilton Laboratories, in Wayland, Mass., which makes a Unix-like command shell for OS/2.
Other testers said the interface is more powerful than those of Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3. "The concept of drag and drop has been implemented to a much greater degree than before in Windows or OS/2," said Jim Gilliland, manager of tax systems for oil company BP America, in Cleveland. "It lets you manipulate objects on the desktop in much the same way you would real objects.
Another tester pointed out small usability improvements in the shell, such as the ability to change icon and window titles by clicking on the title with the Alt key held down.
The benefits of OS/2’s multitasking architecture were evident in a beta copy examined by PC Week. PC Week was able to install a copy of Excel 3.0 for Windows in the background while running other OS/2 tasks in the foreground, with little noticeable performance degradation. PC Week ran multiple copies of Windows applications in standard mode under the beta, with acceptably fast performance on a 33MHz 386. However, Steven Kovitz, a Detroit computer consultant, said he was unable to run Xenographics' SuperPrint and a Microsoft Corp. screen utility under the beta copy.
When OS/2 2.0 is shipped in March, it will run Windows applications within windows on the OS/2 desktop, IBM officials said.
IBM has touted the memory protection of OS/2 over Windows because OS/2 runs applications in separate memory spaces so that crashing one program does not crash the whole system. In the examination by PC Week, OS/2 recovered from crashes of individual tasks.
However, the product is still clearly in the beta stage. Experienced users advised against running the beta on a production system, and IBM officials warned not to use the beta's High Performance File System for critical data. The
latest release also appeared to crash much more often than the previous beta. Testers also reported problems with the installation program, which appears to not tolerate errors very well. In one case, the installation program crashed when PC Week inserted the wrong disk.
A number of beta testers also said the new release, numbered 6.167, was able to run Windows applications full-screen in standard mode without a hitch. However, bugs remain to be worked out with OS/2's installation program and High Performance File System, they said.
The desktop metaphor used in the Workplace Shell goes far beyond Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3 in terms of direct manipulation of visual objects. It lets users print files by dropping them on the print icon or delete them by dropping them on the "shredder" icon. It also uses a new file-organization metaphor, letting users easily combine file and application icons in folders and move them between folders, as Macintosh users have been able to do for years. The change eliminates much of the distinction between the File Manager and Program Manager that exists in both Windows and OS/2 1.3.
However, some beta testers have found it hard to understand the new shell, an experience duplicated during PC Week's examination of the beta. Testers reported difficulty determining how to perform actions such as file operations and were confused by the lack of a menu bar. Under the new shell, menus pop up by clicking on objects with the right mouse button.
"A number of people are sort of lost playing with it," said Doug Hamilton, president of Hamilton Laboratories, in Wayland, Mass., which makes a Unix-like command shell for OS/2.
Other testers said the interface is more powerful than those of Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3. "The concept of drag and drop has been implemented to a much greater degree than before in Windows or OS/2," said Jim Gilliland, manager of tax systems for oil company BP America, in Cleveland. "It lets you manipulate objects on the desktop in much the same way you would real objects.
Another tester pointed out small usability improvements in the shell, such as the ability to change icon and window titles by clicking on the title with the Alt key held down.
The benefits of OS/2’s multitasking architecture were evident in a beta copy examined by PC Week. PC Week was able to install a copy of Excel 3.0 for Windows in the background while running other OS/2 tasks in the foreground, with little noticeable performance degradation. PC Week ran multiple copies of Windows applications in standard mode under the beta, with acceptably fast performance on a 33MHz 386. However, Steven Kovitz, a Detroit computer consultant, said he was unable to run Xenographics' SuperPrint and a Microsoft Corp. screen utility under the beta copy.
When OS/2 2.0 is shipped in March, it will run Windows applications within windows on the OS/2 desktop, IBM officials said.
IBM has touted the memory protection of OS/2 over Windows because OS/2 runs applications in separate memory spaces so that crashing one program does not crash the whole system. In the examination by PC Week, OS/2 recovered from crashes of individual tasks.
However, the product is still clearly in the beta stage. Experienced users advised against running the beta on a production system, and IBM officials warned not to use the beta's High Performance File System for critical data. The
latest release also appeared to crash much more often than the previous beta. Testers also reported problems with the installation program, which appears to not tolerate errors very well. In one case, the installation program crashed when PC Week inserted the wrong disk.
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