OS/2 FAQ List: User's Edition (4 Apr 94)

(0.2) Recent Developments

{{ IBM has released a Service Pak for OS/2 2.1.  The Service Pak (CSD 
Level XR06200) brings OS/2 to Version 2.11.  In addition to several bug 
fixes, the Service Pak provides performance improvements and several 
additional CD-ROM, printer, and video drivers.  A separate Service Pak 
will be released to update OS/2 for Windows.  National language versions 
of the Service Pak (to update non-U.S. English copies of OS/2) will also 
be released soon.  The Service Pak is available for download from most 
OS/2 file repositories [see (3.2) Shareware and Freeware Sources].  Or it 
may be ordered by phoning (800) 3-IBM-OS2 in the United States.  The cost 
is $25 for CD-ROM or $40 for diskettes, including shipping.  See (4.6) 
Corrective Service Diskettes for more information on IBM's regular 
software maintenance program. }}

{{ Independent estimates now put the OS/2 2.x installed base at over six 
million (with a monthly new sales rate of approximately 500,000). }}

{{ The next IBM Personal Software Products Technical Interchange will be 
held April 25-29 in San Francisco.  For more information (or to register) 
please call (800) 872-7109 or (508) 443-4990. }}

{{ The 1994 REXX Symposium takes place in Boston during the first week of 
May.  Contact Village Travel at (415) 326-0510 for more information (or to 
register). }}

{{ Watcom and HockWare have both announced upgrades to their competing 
visual REXX programming tools for OS/2.  VX-REXX 2.0 and VisPro/REXX 2.0 
include several major enhancements, including SOM support.  Contact your 
favorite OS/2 software dealer for more information or to purchase these 
products. }}

{{ Lotus has released minor updates to 1-2-3, Freelance, and AmiPro for 
OS/2.  Several bug fixes and performance enhancements are included with 
these free updates.  Contact Lotus directly to order.  Lotus has also 
announced that later this year major new versions will be released. }}

{{ A least two commercial games for OS/2 should be available this summer: 
Galactic Civilizations and SimCity.  When these games are released, 
details will be provided here. }}

{{ The IBM Independent Vendor League offices have moved.  For general 
information on the IVL, contact Lucy Darbisi at (203) 452-7704 or by FAX 
at (203) 268-1075.  For product accreditation and support please call Gail 
Ostrow at (203) 384-9996 or FAX (203) 368-6379.  The Independent Vendor 
League supports OS/2 consultants, book authors, trainers, and other professionals
. }}

{{ Due to a recent, successful lawsuit brought by Stac Electronics against 
Microsoft, MS-DOS 6.21 (just released) does not contain DoubleSpace disk 
compression.  PC-DOS is the only DOS now sold which reads and writes 
DoubleSpace compressed drives.  If your PC cannot provide enough resources 
to run OS/2, you may wish to consider upgrading to PC-DOS. }}

{{ Person to Person/2 Version 1.1 is now available.  IBM Person to 
Person/2 provides workgroup collaboration features for OS/2 users on a 
network (or over an asynchronous line, such as a modem connection).  (A 
Windows version is also available.)  These features include desktop 
videoconferencing, real time chatting, a "whiteboard" (for making 
annotations to documents), "snapshots" of application windows, and more. 
 Person to Person lists for $280.  For more information on Person to 
Person/2, or to order, phone (800) 3-IBM-OS2. }}

IBM's newest member of the OS/2 family, OS/2 for Windows, is now 
available.  This low cost, specially designed Windows add-on brings the 
power of OS/2 to the millions of Windows users currently searching for 
better performance and more features.  For more information on what will 
probably be IBM's best selling software product ever, please see (0.4) 
Special Report on OS/2 for Windows.

Related information:

(0.3) Questions in this Release 
(0.4) Special Report on OS/2 for Windows 
(3.2) Shareware and Freeware Sources 
(4.6) Corrective Service Diskettes

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