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Subject:It's all software (I _think_) From:GKushmerek -at- INFONET -dot- TUFTS -dot- EDU Date:Thu, 18 Aug 1994 09:03:23 EDT
Oh boy, am I relevant to this list today:
> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 1994 10:44:17 EDT
> From: mpriestley -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM
> Subject: Re: WinWord6 memory issues
> Arlen Walker writes:
> >>If I buy a Mac, will it run OS/2?
> >
> >Yes, if you really want it to. ;{>}
> Are the PC emulation programs really that good? I'm impressed!
> I assume, though, that a Mac running OS/2 would be considerably more
> expensive than an Intel-based machine running OS/2 at a comparable speed.
> I didn't even know the Motorola series supported true multitasking!
A Macintosh -- Motorola or PowerPC-based -- will not run OS/2 today. For
a Mac to _run_ OS/2, System 7 could not be running. Now a Mac could
run an OS/2-based application (PM apps) but this would require a completely
different emulation program than any currently out there.
As for multitasking: the Motorola actually is better constructed with
multitasking in mind. Ask an Amiga user. The problem with the Mac is
that it is *just as bad* as MS-Windows in the multitasking department
since it relies on cooperative multitasking. Look toward the software
design team at Apple to find out why they took a perfectly good platform
like the Motorola and neutered it.
OS/2 shares the throne with something Amiga and Unix users have had for
years: true preemptive multitasking. The whizes at IBM had to compensate
for the Intel x86 inherent lack of support for multitasking by providing
the framework in software. They succeeded. It does it so well that
you can _preemptively multitask_ your MS-Windows sessions. Microsoft,
to their everlasting embarrassment, can not do this in Windows-NT. All
Windows 3.1 apps are cooperatively multitasked within the same session.
If a Mac did run OS/2, it would be one hell of an improvement. Apple
is on the right track with their future plans for System 7 on the
PowerPC.
