CompuServe Messages

Henry, OS/2 2.0 is supposedly a pretty stable product, from what I've read, but I have no direct familiarity with it. OS/2 is supposed to be able to run both DOS and Windows applications. OS/2 is a complete operating system, so MSDOS is not used. It is NOT a shell, as is Windows. OS/2 is large requiring about 20 meg of disk space according to what I've read. Windows typically requires about 12 meg of disk space plus the 2 or 3 meg required for MSDOS. DOS applications can also be run from within Windows. Presently, there are quite a large number of Windows applications, but very few OS/2-specific applications. You don't need Windows to work in DOS nor to do DOS programming, but almost all of the new applications and those that will come out in the future will be for Windows. You need a minimum of 2 meg of RAM for Windows or for OS/2, but a lot more disk space. Although the Amiga can run some programs in 1/2 meg of RAM, the bigger Amiga apps need at least 1 meg or more of RAM and you certainly need a lot of disk space for Amiga programs. However, because the Amiga OS is more compact and was designed to multi-task, that's not the case for Windows. Hence the need for more RAM and disk space for Windows. A lot of MAJOR work has already gone into Windows 3.1 which is a stable product. It won't get any smaller. Although Windows is not a pre-emptive multi-tasking OS, as is the Amiga OS, OS/2 is a true pre-emptive multi-tasker as is the Amiga. Both Windows and OS/2 fully support 24-bit color without the need for expensive video cards, whereas the Amiga does not unless you are using the new AGA machines. I would suggest you find someone with Windows installed and see what it looks like. Contrary to what you may believe, the RAM and disk space requirements are not that much greater than for an equivalently powered Amiga. Furthermore, you will find that Windows applications are generally better than Amiga equivalents, where there is an Amiga equivalent. There are many more productivity programs available for Windows. Only the graphic programs on the Amiga are generally competitive with Windows equivalents.