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Comment by scholia | Hacker News Reader

True ;-)

> Man OS/2 Warp was going to be AWESOME and than the infighting killed the whole thing. :(

OS/2 Warp was actually the IBM monopoly's last concerted attempt to kill little upstart Microsoft. One of IBM's senior managers at the time told me "We're going to burn Bill's butt."

By that stage, it wasn't infighting, it was war. (The infighting was Microsoft's attempt to get IBM to accept Windows NT as OS/2 version 3.)

As it happened, Microsoft had a very strong ally in Kirkland called ... IBM. Big Blue's PC division was interested in selling PCs and it was selling lots of PCs running Windows. PCs running OS/2 were virtually unsaleable.

Eventually, Gerstner arrived and told the OS/2 guys they'd lost and they should just stop.

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BUT OS/2 was originally being built in co-operation with Microsoft just like Macintosh's OS was also with Microsoft.

Not really a BUT, is it? Times changed....

Microsoft and IBM started the development of OS/2 because IBM wouldn't support Unix. (Microsoft had the most widely used Unix of the day, in Xenix.) IBM required a proprietary OS and had a long-running war with AT&T.

Microsoft backed OS/2 strongly but sales were, in Bill Gates's word, "dismal". It was a flop. However, Windows was a hit.

Microsoft wanted to go to a 32-bit OS/2 v3, which is what became Windows NT.

IBM had sold tons of 16-bit IBM PC/AT machines and insisted on a 16-bit operating system.

Hence the divorce, where Microsoft kept Windows and got a bundle of cash ($25 million, if I remember correctly). IBM got OS/2 and an ultra-sweet deal on Windows ($9 a copy, if memory serves).

Sadly IF Microsoft could have gone with Unix for it's servers I certainly would have stayed with System Admin. I got spoiled I had 3 VACs that I was working with that hooked up to 300 DOS PC with NetWare and 100 Apples with Tolken Rings!@!!!!123$!@#$@#%$ The VACs was where you could find me if I was hiding from the horrible mess of a network we had. The last Admin Job was at a library with Windows on the servers. I had to reboot them EVERYDAY according to our vendor's directions and I had to shut down all services to do tape backups. WHAT!!! I was done.

I don't think Microsoft really thought about the server market until NT4 came out, and people started using the "desktop" version on small servers....

However, the Unix business was a huge mess at the time. First, the all vendors were at war with one another, then they divided into two warring camps (SVR4 vs OSF).

While they were busing fighting one another, Microsoft nicked their cheese.....

Update: Of course, Windows NT was designed by the same guy as DEC's VAX VMS, so it's got that in its DNA. Maybe he was thinking of servers as well...

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