On 01/04/11 11:51 am, Pete C. wrote:

Perce (who still prefers "the OS for which Windows was intended to be
only a placeholder": IBM's OS/2 -- in its latest incarnation, an OEM
version called eComStation)

Interesting. I had no idea OS/2 had continued to evolve. I see a lot
of OSS has been ported to it. I'm curious. Jes what does ecomstation
bring to the table that can't be had in linux/BSD?

nb

Interesting. The last time I saw OS/2 anywhere was on a PC based voice
mail system about 15 years ago. The eComStation name seems to imply it
survives in a telecom niche of some sort.

Nobody seems to know how they dreamed up the name, but I do seem to
recall that one of the people involved in the early stages of Serenity
Systems, the company behind eComStation, was involved in some kind of
telecom business.

At a conference I attended last year, it was reported that sales for the
first half of 2010 were better than for the whole of 2009, many to
companies that wanted a version of OS/2 that would work on the new
hardware with which they were replacing their old equipment

I think I read that eComStation runs the NY subway ticketing and
turnstile system. It is also in use by some banks -- possibly more
overseas ones than US ones.

Many people say that OS/2's Workplace Shell is unrivaled, and I don't
think Linux/BSD has anything like OS/2's "shadows": unlike a Windows
"shortcut," whatever is done to the shadow operates on the "real object"
as well.

Perce