Pitching OS/2 FUD to the Press

Date: November 1993

Snippet
From: Adam Taylor To: billp; bradsi; jonro Subject: RE: URGENT: WSJ - Ferengi article Date: Thursday, November 11, 1993 11:57 AM

Here's the pitch we used yesterday with the press. This seemed to work well.

thx.

- OS/2 IS CLEARLY ON A WINDOWS CLONING STRATEGY. Evidence is the decision to call this product "OS/2 for Windows". But when you're in the cloning business, you're constantly playing catchup. OS/2 has always been behind. IBM needs 18 months to get partial support for Windows 3.1, but they still don't have support for VxDs or Windows device drivers. Cloning huge support implications. Who will customers call when they have a problem?

- NOW, IBM IS BEHIND ALL OVER AGAIN. OS/2 2.1 doesn't support WFW 3.11 and MS-DOS 6.2. They don't support the speed enhancements from WFW's 32-bit file access and network components. They don't work with DoubleSpace, or even PC-DOS 6.1 disk compression. WFW 3.11 will ship over 6 million PCs in the next 12 months, or over 30% of the Windows total runrate. MS-DOS 6 has already shipped over 15 million units to date. OS/2 doesn't support al these PC's, which includes all the Dells and all the Gateways.

- IBM'S TECHNOLOGY THREADMILL GETS WORSE. In the future, OS/2 won't support emerging technologies such as OLE2, Win32 and PnP. This means they won't run all the new features of the latest Windows applications, like Office 4.0, or the new generation of hardware what supports Plug and Play.

- CUSTOMERS HAVE CLEARLY DECIDED. Customers want to run Windows applications FAST. They want support for new applications and hardware standards. Windows ships over 1.5 million units every month and accounts for 99% of the market. Customers want Windows, even IBM has figured that out with their new product "OS/2 for Windows".

Full Exhibit
http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/px04115_t.pdf