In the annals of PC historical past, IBM’s OS/2 represents a road not taken. Developed within the waning days of IBM’s partnership with Microsoft—the identical partnership that had given us a decade or so of MS-DOS and PC-DOS—OS/2 was meant to enhance on areas the place DOS was falling brief on fashionable methods. Better reminiscence administration, multitasking capabilities, and a usable GUI had been all among the many options launched in model 1.x.
But Microsoft was pissed off with some of IBM’s objectives and calls for, and the corporate continued to develop an working system known as Windows by itself. Where IBM wished OS/2 for use primarily to spice up IBM-made PCs and designed it across the limitations of Intel’s 80286 CPU, Windows was being created with the booming marketplace for PC-compatible clones in thoughts. Windows 1.x and a couple of.x didn’t make a lot of a dent, however 1990’s Windows 3.0 was a hit, and it got here preinstalled on many client PCs; Microsoft and IBM broke off their partnership shortly afterward, making OS/2 model 1.2 the final one publicly launched and offered with Microsoft’s involvement.
But Microsoft had executed a lot of work on model 2.0 of OS/2 concurrently it was creating Windows. It was far sufficient alongside that preview screenshots appeared in PC Magazine, and early builds had been shipped to builders who might pay for them, however it was by no means formally launched to the general public.
But software program archaeologist Neozeed lately revealed a steady inner preview of Microsoft’s OS/2 2.0 to the Internet Archive, together with working digital machine disk pictures for VMware and 86Box. The preview, purchased by Brian Ledbetter on eBay for $650 plus $15.26 in transport, dates to July 1990 and would have price builders who wished it a whopping $2,600. So much to pay for a model of an working system that will by no means see the sunshine of day!
The Microsoft-developed construct of OS/2 2.0 bears solely a passing resemblance to the 32-bit model of OS/2 2.0 that IBM lastly shipped by itself in April 1992. Neozeed has revealed a extra thorough exploration of Microsoft’s model, digging round in its guts and getting some early Windows software program working (the power to run DOS and Windows apps was concurrently a promoting level of OS/2 and a cause for builders not to create OS/2-specific apps, one of the issues that helped to doom OS/2 ultimately). It’s a fascinating element from a turning level within the historical past of the PC as we all know it at this time, however as a usable desktop working system, it leaves one thing to be desired.
This unreleased Microsoft-developed OS/2 construct isn’t the primary piece of Microsoft-related software program historical past that has been excavated in the previous couple of months. In January, an Internet Archive person found and uploaded an early construct of 86-DOS, the software program that Microsoft purchased and changed into MS-DOS/PC-DOS for the unique IBM PC 5150. Funnily sufficient, these unreleased previews function bookends for IBM and Microsoft’s often-contentious partnership.
As half of the “divorce settlement” between Microsoft and IBM, IBM would take over the event and upkeep of OS/2 1.x and a couple of.x whereas Microsoft continued to work on a extra superior far-future model 3.0 of OS/2. This working system was by no means launched as OS/2, however it will finally change into Windows NT, Microsoft’s extra steady business-centric model of Windows. Windows NT merged with the patron variations of Windows within the early 2000s with Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and people variations progressively developed into Windows as we all know it at this time.
It has been 18 years since IBM formally discontinued its final launch of OS/2, however as so typically occurs in computing, the software program has discovered a strategy to dwell on. ArcaOS is a semi-modernized, intermittently up to date department of OS/2 up to date to run on fashionable {hardware} whereas nonetheless supporting the power to run MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows apps.