The kernel supports 192 threads per appplication by default, but I find it amazing that the OS allows you to easily change its value to a more desirable number. To do the equivalent in Linux you need to edit a header file and then recompile the kernel, while under BeOS its app_server will lock the kernel completely if your application spawns more than 192 threads as there is no way you can change its value. Another cool trick you can do with OS/2 is that you can turn off and on any additional CPUs you may have, on the fly. BeOS users are familiar with this feature (a great way to test applications under non-SMP machines - different number of CPUs can reveal different kind of bugs found in ones source code), but while BeOS goes up to 8 CPUs, OS/2 (reportedly) scales wonderfully on machines up to 64 CPUs.
The Network settings control panel is great. DHCP, web, ftp, telnet servers, BIND, DNS and other exotic networking software, all can be controlled. A small drawback is that each time you do a big change you have to reboot for it to take effect, but other than that OS/2 seems to be an excellent server platform, extremely fast and stable. I will go as far as to say that OS/2 handles networking throughput and server load better than any other single user operating system ever written.
As I mentioned above, you have to reboot for important changes to take place. However, other changes that mostly have to do with WPS itself can be made on the fly. No apply button is required. Any changes you make are applied immediately, they are done in real time.
OS/2 has a good driver base, there is support for USB, PCMCIA, CD-RW, but as far as I can tell there is no support for encrypted DVD playback. Also, because of the fragile installation, you may have to go through with basic installation as in my case with VESA and no audio or USB. After which you'll then do a selective install from within OS/2. In my case, I also had to find in the installation CD and manually install SciTech Display Doctor which gave me accelerated 2D support for my NeoMagic 128XD graphics chipset.
OS/2 comes with full Java 1.1.8 and Java 2 1.3 support although you have to install the latest version of Java manually as above. The system proves very stable and still fast even when running OS/2, DOS, Win 3.1 and Java applications all at the same time.
We have to also mention the Odin project, which is an effort pretty similar to WINE that allows 32-bit Windows applications to run under OS/2. The Odin project is still in beta, but it works for a number of Windows applications. Opera Software found it reliable enough to base their OS/2 version of the Opera browser on Odin. It was done by recompiling their sources to accomodate Odin and OS/2 needs better.
There are several X servers for OS/2 as well, the most well known being HobLink X. There is a pre-registered version of the X Server on the eComStation CDs via a bulk registation to Serenity Systems. It installed just fine, but when I started the X server it stopped loading and said that I had violated the license and that I must call the company in Germany to resolve the issue. So while there is a full port of GIMP, I can't show you any screenshots or talk about its performance, because the X Server did not load. As a sidenote, you can port and run POSIX applications to OS/2 with the use of the EMX POSIX/2 add-on.
OS/2 has support for software and hardware OpenGL and there are 3Dfx drivers available. Speaking of multimedia, there is QuickTime playback support via a third party application, QuickMotion, and also mpeg, avi and DivX support. OS/2 does not have a near-realtime kernel, however its latency is good enough to do some media processing, but in my opinion, not good enough for powerful MIDI processing. I have not seen support for high-end video or sound hardware, or applications for video editing.
OS/2 supports scripting and in fact it's actively used in all aspects of the OS. The language used is REXX and it's powerful enough to deal with installation issues, component registrations for apps, networking related matters and more.
One of my disappointments in the OS default setup is the FAT32 driver. While there is a FAT32 driver written by a third party included on the third CD, you have to install it manually. And the installation is not what I would call an easy task for Joe User, you have to mess with the drivers, the config.sys, the .ini files, and you have to mess (again) with LVM. Trying to install the FAT32 driver really reminded me of the DOS and Windows 3.1 days. While the OS/2 kernel is excellent, the way the system handles setup is in many ways are similar to the pre-Windows 95 era. Many settings files and command line work mostly done under a DOS or OS/2 terminal.
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"It's tough being a journalist, especially if you're covering technology and living in Silicon Valley, because it seems as if everyone around you is getting fabulously rich while you're stuck in a job that will never, ever make you wealthy. What's worse is that all these people who are getting rich don't seem to be any brighter than you are and in fact many of them don't seem very bright at all. So of course you get jealous. And then you start thinking maybe you could find a way to cash in on this gold rush. But how do you make gobs of money when your only marketable skill involves writing blog posts?" Absolutely brilliant down to the last letter. Coincidentally, I hold no shares, interests, or anything, in any company whatsoever. I'm a freelance translator by day. Not that anyone cares, but hey, full disclosure and all.
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"A hybrid solution that takes the best parts of iOS's one-by-one acceptance and Android's expressed and obvious intents seems like a proper model here. In fact, Apple has many of the pieces in place elsewhere." This is a big issue. Nor Android's model (just list a bunch of confusing permissions), nor Apple's model (individual modal dialogs for each permission) is particularly workable - I doubt regular users check them on Android before installing an application, and in the case of iOS, Apple didn't think it was necessary to secure the address book, so every application has access to it without alerting users. Justin Williams proposes a hybrid solution.
"Although current discussion of the Linux desktop tends to focus on the disharmony around Unity and the GNOME shell, the true revolution on the desktop is taking place out of sight of users. The Wayland display server is expected to reach version 1.0 later this year, and is seen by many as the long term replacement for the X Window System, with real potential to improve and transform the performance of the desktop for Linux users."
Mozilla has announced plans to integrate its Firefox web browser with Metro for Windows 8 - including Gecko. "Windows 8 contains two application environments, 'Classic' and 'Metro'. Classic is very similar to the Windows 7 environment at this time, it requires a simple evolution of the current Firefox Windows product. Metro is an entirely new environment and requires a new Firefox front end and system integration points. The feature goal here is a new Gecko based browser built for and integrated with the Metro environment. Firefox on Metro, like all other Metro apps will be full screen, focused on touch interactions, and connected to the rest of the Metro environment through Windows 8 contracts." I haven't checked - does Microsoft allow different rendering engines?
"One of the things that the GNOME design crew have been focusing on recently is creating a new approach to application design for GNOME 3. We want GNOME applications to be thoroughly modern, and we want them to be attractive and a delight to use. That means that we have to do application design differently to how we've done it in the past.""This is the first real release of Wayland and Weston. Wayland is the protocol and IPC mechanism while Weston is the reference compositor implementation. The 0.85 branch in both repositories is going to be protocol and interface stable. We have a series of protocol changes on the table before 1.0 but this branch marks a stable point before we jump into that." Change is coming to the Linux world. And yes, I get the irony of using this particular icon, but it's the closest I could find.
Well, this is good news. "Germany will not sign an international anti-piracy treaty, despite having already agreed to it in principal, government sources in Berlin said Friday, February 10." with Germany on the side of reason - for now - we're a huge step closer to stopping ACTA.
"Microsoft today issued a brief statement promising to make 'essential patents' available to competitors at fair and reasonable licensing rates, and promised not to sue companies making products that infringe these patents. The actual patents themselves weren't disclosed, but Microsoft joins both Google and Apple in making recent statements on so-called fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory licensing terms. Such licensing terms designate certain patents as essential to complying with industry standards, making them available for licensing at (supposedly) lower-than-usual rates." This industry is dysfunctional."Like any space opera, the story of information technology is a very simple one. It is played out in a myriad of different ways by a revolving cast of characters, but it always has its loveable heroes, its predictably nefarious villains, innocent civilians to be saved, and bumbling bureaucrats that aren't inherently evil, but begin every story aiding the forces of darkness out of a misplaced belief they are preserving law and order in their corner of the galaxy." He might use Star Wars as an analogy (I strongly dislike Star Wars - Trekkie here), but it sums up very well how I feel about computing today.
"Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new technique that allows graphics processing units and central processing units on a single chip to collaborate - boosting processor performance by an average of more than 20 percent."
