-=> Quoting John Augustine to Stephane Bessette <=-
 SB>    From the reports I've read, Win95 continues in the tradition of
 SB>MicroSoft:  the product has some problems, but they'll be fixed in the
 SB>next version, which will come out soon (next summer).  And then the
 SB>problems in that version will be fixed in the following version, and
 JA> When you add New Features (New Procedures) there is Always the
 JA> Potential for New Bugs.  Of course, New Features is part of Progress.
 JA> BTW,
 JA> Look at all the Changes that Dos went through (I know this is a
 JA> Windows Confenference).
        I entered the computer scene when MS-DOS was at version 5.0.
I found that it was a decent product, and 'old-timers' seemed to agree
that v5.0 was one of the good releases.  However, I don't know much
about the previous versions, so I can't comment on them.  However, v6.0
was mainly a package that introduced new utilities, such as multi-config,
DoubleSpace (later to be replaced by DriveSpace due to copyright
infringement (theft) on the part of MicroSoft), ScanDisk, and MemMaker.
Aside from these, I'm not certain what enhancements v6.0 brought.  And
then there was v6.2, which may have been released only because they had
to stop shipping DoubleSpace.  As you can probably tell, my perception
of v6.0 and v6.2 is that it basically consists of v5.0 and some utilities.
Hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
        On the Windows side, it is generally agreed that Windows 3.0 was
the first version to actually be usable.  Previous version just didn't
cut it.  And then there came Windows 3.1, which was a phenomenal success.
It has some major problems, such as applications grabbing resources and
not releasing them when they are closed, and being a cooperative
multitasker (applications decide when they will release the CPU and allow
other applications to run).  If you are a low-end user, starting only
one application at a time and then turning off the computer, then these
two major problems will not harm you.  However, if you are a high-end
user, starting many applications during the course of a day, using more
than one application at a time (this is what multitasking is for!), or
if you use OLE links (sharing data between applications), then you'll
soon experience crashes caused by the two problems I've mentioned above.
Also, Windows 3.1 is an extention of DOS;  it provides a graphical
interface to most of the commands found in DOS.  In a way, it can be
seens as an improved DosShell.
        And now we come to Win95, the fusioning of DOS v7.0 and Windows
v4.0.  To get back on the topic that started this historical review,
Win95 can be seen as a way of easing the upgrade mechanics of two
products:  Dos and Windows.  However, a greater weight has been
placed on Windows than DOS.  I'm taking a computer course.  When we
began the program, we learned about DOS.  Some of my friends bought
computers, and wanted to practice at home.  Their computers came
with Win95 (or DOS v7.0 + Windows v4.0).  When they started DOS
sessions, and tried to access some of the commands that were
available in previous versions of DOS, they found that they were
missing (tree and DosShell for instance).
        Anyways, to wrap this up, I'll mention that IBM seems to
behave differently when it comes to releasing new versions than
MicroSoft does.  When MicroSoft releases a new version, it contains
bug fixes for the previous version, as well as new features.  On
the other hand, IBM seems to be releasing free fixes for any version
of its software, and only forces you to purchase a new version for
the added features, not for the fixes it contains.  Another way of
stating this is that IBM seems to be committed to selling you something
that works.  If the product does not work as advertized or as the
documentation says it is supposed to work, then they will continue to
release free fixes (fixpacks).  Again, this may not be accurate, but
corresponds to my perception.
 SB>the only decent product they have released is Excel.  The others are
 JA> There is Much that I don't know, and "Excel" is one of them.  Is
 JA> that a Reduced Instruction Set Platform?
        Excel is a spreadsheet program.  As with most of their software,
the original idea came from a different company (probably Lotus 1-2-3).
One original product, something that they came up on their own, was
Bob.  Bob was a desktop utility meant to ease the use of a computer.
Bob could have different personalities:  different layouts and different
behavious.  For example, you could be presented with a desk.  On the
desk there was a phone, for communications, a fax to send faxes, pieces
of paper to write a document, a filing cabinet to store documents, ...
The idea was interesting, but, Bob was a total flop.
        Stephane [TEAM OS/2]
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