IBM pretty much slammed the solid oak door on open sourcing os/2. "As stated in our response to your September 2005 letter we have considered the positioning of os/2 and open source several times in the past, and for a variety of business, technical, and legal reasons we have decided to not pursue any os/2 open source projects."
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Member since:2005-07-03
I'm not sure about that assertion, but what I know is that in spain, BBVA Bank used to use OS/2 less than 3 years ago. And I haven't been in the bank lately (hate it), but last time I checked, they had newer boxes with Windows 2000 and a TN/3270 or similar connected to OS/2 Lan Manager or whatever... because of their "legacy" application ran under OS/2.
Replacing a Bank's IT infrastructure and backend is by no means a simple task.
If there are Airlines and other "big" companies using it, I highly doubt they'll open source it. It would be very irresponsible. There may be bugs and security holes that are best left covered under obscurity and lack of interest. Given that IBM is unlikely to release a new fixpack for those, IMO is best to leave OS/2 where it is, slowly fading into history and replaced by new stuff.
I've seen dozens of ATMs with OS/2, although now most of those have some sort of Windows.
Madrid Barajas' Airport uses Windows NT/2000 and/or Novell on some of the displays. The Check-In terminals are Windows now and so on...
It takes time, but eventually legacy things get replaced. (sarcasm-> tell that to AIX/Cobol) 
A pitty that Microsoft won the race there. Those terminals could be perfecly using some variant OS. I guess they went for the support.
Edited 2008-01-22 10:17 UTC
Member since:2006-12-28
I don't know where you get the idea from that AIX is some kind of legacy platform but for your information, it's nothing of the sort. There is not a single large banking facility here in Luxembourg that does not run AIX for at least it's DB infrastructure. Couple that with the fact that there is not a single large financial institute on this planet that does not have a branch in Luxembourg and you have got to be joking when your saying that AIX is legacy.
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:
2006-01-09
thats why they won't opensource it, half the airline industry still uses os/2.