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Comment by rilindo | Hacker News Reader

I got complicated feelings about that. He did help pave the way for Linux, but he also killed OS/2.

OS/2 never had a chance. I was working at Radio Shack at the time that IBM was trying to sell Aptivas with OS/2. No one wanted it.

It was just weird to people. Microsoft did a big consumer push for Windows 95 and there were lines to buy it and Bill Gates promoted it on the Jay Leno show.

Windows 95 almost killed Apple.

It was never really suited to retail sales channels like Radio Shack. It was more of a corporate thing although it obviously failed there as well.

I only came across it at one site, a big UK bank (Midland Bank). They were using a heavily modified version, it didn’t look anything like the original product.

There were plenty of people who wanted OS/2. They simply weren't the type of people who would go to Radio Shack.

By plenty, I should be clear: it probably wasn't enough for OS/2 survive. IBM made some bad decisions early on. Microsoft was also a thorn in everyone's side and it looked like. While their product was good enough, their business practices were savage. Possibly something they learned from IBM's legacy.

I was in my late teens/early twenties at the time. What I learned about how major corporations at the time is likely what led to my llife long interest in open source.

Microsoft spent a billion 1995 dollars marketing Win 95. Plus they had existing DOS and Windows 3.x users.

Arguably OS/2 was "better" (depending on your definition) but MS were all-in on Windows, and for IBM OS/2 was a side-line. It never stood a chance.

Douglas Copeland wrote a fictional book called Microserfs. He did a lot of comparison between the culture of IBM and Microsoft. Not a bad book , I recall. as

OS/2 had some of the ugliest icons I've ever seen (and that elephant!) - looking cute always wins.

Yeah, I remember switching from OS/2 to Linux when OS/2 was more or less abandoned.

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