Tom Nadeau's Warpstock Experience

After quitting my job and driving 2000 miles, I fully expected a great

Warpstock.  I was not disappointed.  I had a deep suspicion that there

were hundreds of dedicated, loyal, friendly OS/2 users willing to trek

from anywhere at great personal expense to support OS/2; once again, I

was not disappointed.  In fact, the only big disappointment was the lack

of bigtime computer press there.  (Of course, our Esther was there and I

look forward to her coverage, but I was thinking just maybe John Dvorak

had an open weekend.... nah.)



The vendors had very basic exhibit tables, and ran out of product right

away.  The tables that seemed brimming with business were POSSI, who

sold some 40 new memberships; and Harry Martin's T-shirt booth.  Harry's

shirts were fabulous, even at $15.  Fortunately he had a XXX-Large

available for me.



The seminars showed just how deep the talent is in this group.  Timur's

Win32 stuff was cool:  these fellas actually understand what MS is doing

"under the covers" and will soon be able to run some of the more basic

Win32 stuff on OS/2.



Jim Koerner from IBM gave us an overview of the IBM viewpoint on OS/2.

Basically, OS/2 Warp Client has a niche, just like everything else

does.  That niche is at one end of the spectrum (the high-cost end),

whereas dumb terminals were at the other end.  For companies looking to

have lots of transactions for cheap, but who want more than just a dumb

terminal, that's the IBM Network Station, or the WSOD (Bluebird).  Those

two hold down the middle portion of the spectrum in terms of cost per

transaction.  Basically, IBM sees businesses as wanting to slide

everything towards the low-cost-per-transaction end, and that's where

they want to focus most of their efforts.



Mike Persell of IBM was the most down-to-earth guy I've ever met from a

big company since Frank Ingari left Lotus.  We had a 45-minute private

chat and I'll spill the beans right now:

1. He's disappointed that we OS/2 supporters are so dependent on IBM for

everything.  "Don't whine, don't beg, ASK and you WILL RECEIVE" was his

message.  In other words, we need to learn to develop serious

business-case proposals for what we need from IBM, and stop whining and

complaining.  WE must make the first move, and Mike will go to bat for

us.

2. Brad Wardell has a lot of "potential."  Hmmmm... think about that, a

guy who's sold millions of copies of OS/2 software has "potential."

Apparently, OS/2 must really have a tremendous untapped potential.  It's

up to US to tap that.

3. IBM makes 10-year contracts with big companies to use OS/2, and puts

the software in escrow accounts.  That means IBM must support it for the

duration of the contract -- and can't change its kernel, etc. in that

version.  It's not a lack of support for new stuff, it's about keeping

their commitments.



Douglas Grove blew everyone away with his down-and-dirty expose of just

how far behind OS/2 the "other guys" are.  That's right, NT is basically

a dud.  The SMP stuff in NT is medieval -- like dumping the cache

contents every time there's a thread switch.  He recommends camping on

the Aberdeen Group's website to get more ammo.... and also Microsoft's

own developer sites!!



I was pleased with the response to my Consumer Marketing presentation.

Apparently my sense of humor and timing match that of most OS/2 users --

they were rolling in the aisles!  Thanks to everyone who attended my

presentation.



The big windup was Michael Steinberg's demo of the Lotus Smartsuite

Alpha for OS/2.  It was so thrilling, the audience rushed the stage at

the end to get the free CDs that were handed out.  This is what we've

been waiting seven years for.



There were many other exhibits and seminars that I just didn't have time

to attend.  Everyone did a marvelous job and seemed to have taken care

to be well-prepared.  The Warpstock committee and volunteers did a great

job, and the free meals were very much appreciated!  Thanks also to the

Ruffo/Pugh blues band, who made Saturday night quite entertaining.  I'm

already looking forward to Warpstock 98.



Tom Nadeau

os2headquarters@mindspring.com