中国DOS联盟

People on the Internet all say that OS/2 is going to fade into oblivion. There are really very few materials about OS/2. I have installed many versions of OS/2, and I feel that it is more powerful than DOS, but much weaker than Windows! It would be great if this forum could open an OS/2 section! OS/2 is the watershed between DOS and Windows! It would be a pity to end its history without understanding it!

I've only seen OS/2 in books, but I've never installed it...

I don't know which version of OS/2 the original poster is using. Saying that OS/2 is much weaker than Windows, you must be using some early versions of OS/2, such as OS/2 3.0 /4.0. In terms of performance and stability, they are better than the simultaneous Windows 3.1/Windows 95, and not inferior to Windows NT 4.0 at all. It's just that IBM didn't do as well in marketing as Microsoft, resulting in OS/2 being almost extinct now.

The current Windows NT series like 2000/Xp are just MS versions of OS/2. After OS/2 1.x, IBM continued to use the name OS/2, while MS switched to Windows NT because IBM had a falling out with MS and didn't allow MS to use the OS/2 name anymore.

I have collected and used "IBM OS/2 Warp 4.0 Simplified Chinese CD-ROM version" (personally feels equivalent to Windows 95, this is the last version, designed relatively humanized, later developed by another company, the Os2 Warp 5 Ecomstation I have now is its successor version, but there are very few related materials, and it is in English, I don't even know what format of hard disk it supports! Installation can't be carried out, and it's 3 CDs, more ferocious than Windows!)
IBM OS/2 Warp 3.0 Simplified Chinese version and English version (feels better than DOS, the man-machine interface is good, it's colorful, unlike MSDOS which is all dark, and there is sound after installation without finding drivers, and there are many accompanying application software!)
IBM OS/2 Warp 2.0&2.1 English floppy disk version (not much different from the above versions, there are 6 games in it, designed very interestingly, much better than DOS!
There are too few supporting materials for OS/2, installation is all by oneself to explore, it's hard to find on IBM website, personally feels, this system is good!

Windows systems have already reached Vista now, but OS/2 only stayed at OS/2 4.0 and stopped being developed at its home. The system from ten years ago is completely not at the same level as today's Windows, how can it not fail? There's no comparison, I just feel sorry for it!!!

OS/2 supports FAT12/16 and HPFS, and these are all supported by Windows (HPFS support is hidden by Microsoft).

OS/2 Warp and Ecomstation are said to support FAT32, and it also seems to support a JFS file system.

I have installed OS/2 2.0 before, and the interface is very refreshing. I have been looking for OS/2 2.1 for many years, but found nothing.
Also, there is a place, www.computing.net, where there are many OS sections.

I have OS/2 2.1, which I installed in English version, floppy disk version. Are you looking for the Chinese version? It's very convenient to install the floppy disk in VPC2004. The installation process prompts are in color. OS/2 is said to be a system for banks, but I found that all computers in banks are black and white, so I'm not sure!

There is a cat chasing mouse setting in OS/2 2.1. That is, the computer treats your mouse as a mouse, and there is a little cat always chasing your mouse, following wherever it points. Now the little lion of Rising 2006 is probably learned from it, but there are many more moves! There is a Chinese mahjong game in OS/2 3.0! After getting used to Windows, it is a bit novel to use OS/2 at the beginning!

Indeed, I have seen that the boot screens of many ATMs are OS/2 Warp.

I still don't understand why OS/2 lost to Windows 95. When looking at history, it's said that OS/2 was launched earlier than Windows 95 and was more powerful than Windows 95. But OS/2 still failed. Is there anyone who is clear about that history to explain why exactly?

This is just like how PC-DOS 6/7 and DR-DOS 6, which were not much weaker in functionality than MS-DOS 5/6 back then, ultimately lost to MS-DOS 5/6, because Microsoft's market operation ability was too strong.

Hey --!
Speaking of OS/2, it's really a sad past event for me. Back when DOS was facing the need for an upgrade, I originally planned to switch to OS/2, but unfortunately, I couldn't find it sold in the (pirated) market?!! (I still haven't seen it until now). From this, it can be seen who exactly the piracy is helping!
I also remember that the Boot Manager that came with OS/2 back then seemed to be the first multi-operating system boot management software to appear. Some people even specially extracted it for use.

Piracy objectively helped MS a bit!