By: John W. Edwards
On September 9th and 10th, OS/2 enthusiasts from all over the U.S., Canada and Europe gathered in
Philadelphia for the annual Warpstock. They were there to see
where OS/2 is and where it is going as well as to learn more about their favorite operating system.
As well as viewing displays set up by a number of OS/2 developers and vendors, the attendees sat in
on a number of presentations on various topics (see the list below). There was also time for social
gathering and information sharing among the attendees. As a place to become informed about OS/2,
Warpstock is hard to beat.
Highlights - Welcome to Warpstock 2000, The OS/2 Community - Where Do You want to Go Today?,
Running Win32 Applications on OS/2: The Odin Project, OS/2 Roadmap to the Application Framework for
e-business, Warpzilla: What's In It for Users.
Users - Advocacy - OS/2 Device Drivers News, OS/2 Netlabs: an overview, OS/2 in Embedded
Systems, OS/2 Warp for Road Warriors, MP3s - What they are and what you can do with them, OS/2
Problem Solver, Thinking Relationally, OS/2 Fixpak Process.
Product Demonstrations - Workspace On-Demand Version 3, OS/2 Netlabs Demonstrations, Ounce
of Prevention System, KidStuff for OS/2, ZipstreamSecure Version 2, SciTech Display Doctor for OS/2,
Exploiting Mesa 2's Real Time Feed, Take Control of Your Enterprise with Starfire Titan, eComStation
and WiseManager Skills Transfer.
Networking - Internet - OS/2 Roadmap to the Application Framework for e-business, Remote-
booting Diskless Windows Workstations from OS/2 Warp Server, OS/2 Networking with Cable/DSL Internet
Access, Slash Support Costs with Remote Control, Real World OS/2, Developing Computer Telephony
Applications in OS/2.
Programming - Introduction to programming, Jungo's WinDriver for OS/2, XWorkplace:
Extending the Workplace Shell, Warpzilla: What's in it for developers?, Simplicity for Java,
Programming drivers for USB devices on OS/2, Creating WarpIN Installation archives, Getting Expected
Results from Java, Open Source Compilers for OS/2, Building Dynamic Web Pages with PHP, Introduction
to Java, The OS/2 Programming Model, Advanced OS/2 Debugging Using PMDF and Trace.
"The OS/2 Community- Where Do We Want to Go Today?" was the keynote panel discussion
with representatives of different parts of the OS/2 community. During this session the various
panelists gave some idea of the direction that OS/2 was heading and responded to questions and
comments from the audience. During this discussion it was apparent that there are basically as many
ideas of the future of OS/2 as there are individuals.
Some of these presentations were geared for the large enterprise while others were more applicable
to the small business or even individual users, while others had value to any user regardless of the
system involved. Presentations such as the one on Starfire Titan had value mainly for large networks.
OS/2 Networking with Cable/DSL Internet Access could be applied to any size of system. The
presentations on the Programming section were of interest and use to those developing and maintaining
software applications. Some presentations such as OS/2 NetLabs, Project Odin, SciTech Display Doctor,
eCom Station were of interest to the full range of OS/2 users.
At some time in the future, Warpstock will be making
available CD-ROMs with copies of the slide
presentations, video clips, and snapshots of Warpstock 2000. Check the Warpstock site for more
information as to when these CDs will be available. If you would like a preview, check OS/2 Guide
Walter Metcalf's slide presentation for "OS/2 Networking with Cable/DSL
Internet Access".
As you can plainly see it was impossible for one individual to sit in on all of the presentations
and so it became a difficult choice of which presentations you would see and which you would miss.
Some of the choices were made by the scheduling as you might be interested in several different
topics that happened to take place at the same time. Oh well, there's always next year.
Keep in Touch with These Developments
Project Odin team members were there to show how Win32
applications (specifically designed for Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me) could be run under OS/2. This is
probably one of the most exciting developments that has come along for OS/2 as you will be able to
have access to the vast collection of Win32 applications and be able to run them natively under OS/2.
There are daily builds of the code available for download and testing. This project is being
developed by a number of members of NetLabs in their own time and thus it is progressing more slowly
than if developers were being paid to work full-time at the project. This being said, a workable
product is currently available that has certain limitations. Check http://odin.netlabs.org/MiscApplications.phtml for a database of
tested applications with the results of the testing.
Scitech Software was there describing the Open Watcom Project which will see the Watcom C/C++ and Watcom
Fortran development programs become open source with Scitech leading the way. The Watcom compilers
for C/C++ and Fortran are currently discontinued products of Sybase. Sybase and SciTech have entered
into an agreement to make these development tools available as open source. Since Watcom C/C++ had
the ability to compile source code under OS/2, this will make it much easier for OS/2 application
developers to compile their programs for distribution.
Serenity
Systems discussed the release of eComStation as a next step in the development of OS/2 Warp 4 Client. This program incorporates OS/2
Warp 4 up to the level of the Convenience Pak as well as a number of additional applications and
features. It is due for preview release within a short time and for a full release early in 2001.
Photo Gallery
For a visual feel of Warpstock 2000, check the following web sites for snapshots of the events and
personalities:
Exhibitors Present
