LR>    I don't understand.  Why did you feel *compelled* to go to native
 LR>    OS/2 apps(with your apps) if they ran well under OS/2's VDM?

I'll take this one --- a native OS/2 app has been developed in a protected
environment that has lots of rules.  DOS is unprotected (even a VDM does
not protect a program from itself) and has few rules.

Therefore, an OS/2 program is *always* better than a DOS program,because it
has been put to the test in a less forgiving environment. I've seen many
DOS programs that,  when compiled for OS/2,  trap within the first 10
lines!

Since 1989,  even though I try to avoid it, I occasionally have to write a
DOS program;  but I almost always develop and maintain the code as an OS/2
program,  because I know it will be better software in the end.  I release
the DOS exe to the customer.

Finding memory corruption errors (wandering pointers, overrun buffers,and
the like) is so much easier under OS/2 I really pitty anyone that has been
working under DOS for the past five years.  It also make me nervous
evertime I use a DOS or Windows product (My accounting software
(QuickBook),  for example,  really makes me nervous;  I wish it was
developed in protected mode).

 LR>    In case you hadn't noticed, I am not a big fan of C++ or OOPS.  I
 LR>    have *studied* it.

 LR>    The one big feature of C++ is it's ease in extensibility where you
 LR>    want to sell code without giving out source.

You couldn't have studied very hard :-);  one of the big drawbacks of C++
is that you almost always have to have the source to extend a class.


In another message,  you seem skeptical that there is enough of an OS/2
market to sustain dedicated consulting services.  I run such a company. We
develop 95% for OS/2, since 1990.  When a DOS program creeps in,  it is
usually a front end for a OS/2 back end.

Consulting services are,  by definition,  for businesses,  which are very
keen on OS/2 (even since version 1.10).  There's plenty of work.

Most of the time the OS is not even an issue -- the customer wants
something done and it just so happens I deliver it on OS/2, because I know
it will be better (safer) software than a DOS/Windows program.

I agree that you might not sell many programs right now if your product is
an OS/2 word processor,  but if it is a client/server product,  or you are
a consultant,  you should be plenty busy (and getting top dollar).

On the flip side,  the NT consulting market is a joke.  No one (vertical
market) is developing for it.  I've had only one inquiry,  and that was to
write a device driver & file system for a hardware vendor (we're going
to do the OS/2 version first).


--- Maximus/2 2.01