OS/2 Ver. 5.0 "Blue Lion" Announced - Polidicks

[img]http://toastytech.com/guis/os220logo.png[/img] [quote] Representatives of Arca Noae, the organization behind the revival of OS/2, gave presentations at WarpStock Europe—the annual convention of OS/2 users, developers, and enthusiasts—about the status of the Blue Lion project first announced on TechRepublic last November. While IBM stopped principal development of OS/2 with the release of Warp 4 in 1996, maintenance releases continued until 2001 as enterprise deployments necessitated continued support for the platform.[/quote] [quote]Following the close of events at WarpStock Europe, Arca Noae managing member Lewis Rosenthal noted in an interview that the final product name for the new OS/2 distribution is ArcaOS 5.0. The significance of the version number relates to IBM OS/2 4.52—the last maintenance release of the platform released by IBM in 2001.[/quote] [quote]ArcaOS 5.0 is expected to be released in the fourth quarter of 2016[/quote] [quote]ArcaOS will be sold in two different editions. ArcaOS Commercial Edition is intended for mission-critical environments, and includes 12 months of updates and priority support. ArcaOS Personal Edition will include six months of updates and support, and will be offered at a lower price. The included software and features between the two editions is completely identical.[/quote] [quote] ArcaOS includes a superset of the currently available software and driver package sold by Arca Noae for existing OS/2 installations. This software includes support for modern ACPI versions, USB 1.1 and 2.0, AHCI support needed for Serial ATA disks, the Multimac driver suite for network cards (wireless support is forthcoming), and Uniaud, an ALSA-compatible sound driver. ArcaOS will also support CUPS, as well as Kerberos authentication. For systems running on modern processors, a symmetric multiprocessor (SMP) kernel is available, in addition to the classic Warp kernel, though this is not available as a unikernel design. As OS/2 is a 32-bit OS, there are structural limitations to achieving full RAM support, though support has been added for creating RAM disks up to 4 GB.[/quote] [url=http://www.techrepublic.com/article/os2-resurrected-blue-lion-becomes-arcaos-details-emerge-for-upcoming-release/]**SOURCE**[/url] WHAAAAAAAA?! How did I miss the previous announcement?

Is anyone still writing software for OS/2? Seems a bit weird to upgrade an OS when there's no active software development for it, just legacy shit. Also, "Personal Edition"? Do people actually use it on the desktop still?

Can anyone give me a single reason why anybody would use this OS?

[QUOTE=gman003-main;50425377]Is anyone still writing software for OS/2? Seems a bit weird to upgrade an OS when there's no active software development for it, just legacy shit. Also, "Personal Edition"? Do people actually use it on the desktop still?[/QUOTE] A lot of POS machines use it afaik, otherwise, nope. It was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was killed by windows. [QUOTE=phygon;50425389]Can anyone give me a single reason why anybody would use this OS?[/QUOTE] I mean, if it's cheap I might just stick it on a machine because why not. But that's just the kind of thing I do with OSes. i don't really think it's going to be targeted at normal consumers, just very specific people/businesses.

Imagine using anything other than OS/2 v1.2 from 1989, the last good version and the one true OS

[QUOTE=gman003-main;50425377]Is anyone still writing software for OS/2? Seems a bit weird to upgrade an OS when there's no active software development for it, just legacy shit. Also, "Personal Edition"? Do people actually use it on the desktop still?[/QUOTE] You might not believe this, but I once met an old lady who owned (and was still using!) a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_128]Laser 128[/url] computer. Still uses the damn thing to write letters! Which she PRINTS. ON THE LASER 128 PRINTER.

Wow, why bother? I remember seeing OS/2 software boxes in my dad's home office as a kid in the '90s and even back then I knew that stuff was old. In fact, they were stacked on a shelf right next to... [QUOTE=Zero-Point;50425888] a [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_128]Laser 128[/url] computer [...] THE LASER 128 PRINTER.[/QUOTE] ... Yep, those.

[QUOTE=VinLAURiA;50426735]Wow, why bother? I remember seeing OS/2 software boxes in my dad's home office as a kid in the '90s and even back then I knew that stuff was old. In fact, they were stacked on a shelf right next to... ... Yep, those.[/QUOTE] Because too many people refuse to try new things. Windows 10 is a sterling example.

It had some interesting Windows compatibility, too.

[QUOTE=TornadoAP;50427107]Because too many people refuse to try new things. Windows 10 is a sterling example.[/QUOTE] Oh no it's starting even here too

[QUOTE=TornadoAP;50427107]Because too many people refuse to try new things. Windows 10 is a sterling example.[/QUOTE] You don't know the horrors of what you have unleashed.

[QUOTE=TornadoAP;50427107]Because too many people refuse to try new things. Windows 10 is a sterling example.[/QUOTE] Something something, dangerzone..

I'm curious to see if DOS/Windows 3.x compatibility will still be in there.

[QUOTE=Durrsly;50434125]I'm curious to see if DOS/Windows 3.x compatibility will still be in there.[/QUOTE] I don't see why they would drop it. It's remaining a full 32-bit OS with backwards compatibility for legacy customers. LOL, who am I kidding? They're ALL legacy customers at this point! :v: This reminds me of MorphOS, only it's not developed by a group of deranged furries who still believe that the Amiga is still a superior platform but can't afford the licensing costs to use the Amiga name.

[QUOTE=pentium;50437489]I don't see why they would drop it. It's remaining a full 32-bit OS with backwards compatibility for legacy customers. LOL, who am I kidding? They're ALL legacy customers at this point! :v: This reminds me of MorphOS, only it's not developed by a group of deranged furries who still believe that the Amiga is still a superior platform but can't afford the licensing costs to use the Amiga name.[/QUOTE] I'm wondering what people would still [I]use[/I] something like this for (that requires continued development and support), if not fueling their delusions?

[QUOTE=DrTaxi;50437855]I'm wondering what people would still [I]use[/I] something like this for (that requires continued development and support), if not fueling their delusions?[/QUOTE] Well... [quote]OS/2 was used to control the SkyTrain automated light rail system in Vancouver, Canada until the late 2000s when it was replaced by Windows XP. -[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OS/2#historical_Uses]source[/url][/quote] I really can't think of any applications beyond ATM machines that would still require the use of OS/2 and even then most of them have since migrated to XP because it has a vastly larger base of third party legacy support.

A large amount of business software, like those in banks, still use DOS. And as we all know, Windows dropped DOS support. OS/2 is useful in those environments.

Outside of proprietary business software, are there any practical reasons whatsoever to use something like OS/2, or is it just for hobbyists to tinker around with? I guess the same goes for AmigaOS and MorphOS, too. Both of those actually look like quite nice operating systems but the arbitrary restrictions on what kind of hardware you can use make no sense to me. Why even bother?

[QUOTE=pentium;50437489]LOL, who am I kidding? They're ALL legacy customers at this point! :v: This reminds me of MorphOS, only it's not developed by a group of deranged furries who still believe that the Amiga is still a superior platform but can't afford the licensing costs to use the Amiga name.[/QUOTE] Says the guy running [b]Firefox[/b] on [b]Windows XP[/b] in [i]2016.[/i]

[QUOTE=VinLAURiA;50441125]Says the guy running [b]Firefox[/b] on [b]Windows XP[/b] in [i]2016.[/i][/QUOTE] I don't pay $1000 for a 233mhz PowerPC upgrade on a 25 year old computer. :v: