Linda Proulx,

24-Oct-99 16:50:31, Linda Proulx wrote to Andy Roberts
 LP> -=> Andy Roberts wrote to Linda Proulx <=-
          Subject: Re: An Inquiring Mind

 AR>> DOS prgms are almost never a problem running under OS/2's DOS.  I
 AR>> was talking about the Windows prgms which are more often than not
 AR>> APITA.
 LP> ?^^^^^????

A Pain In The Ass

 AR>> I think you are worring about a non-existant problem before
 AR>> giving it a try.

 LP> Probably, but I like all my options open until everything comes
 LP> together .

I think you will find it easier to at least install OS/2 and see what it is
like.  Then you can try all your DOS prgms.  And simple answers about Boot
Manager etc will all be obvious.  After that you will find a lot of little
details about OS/2 can not be answered before you get installed.  Expect at
least a month to figure out how to make it all work like you want.  In the
mean time you can still use Boot Manager to continue running your old OS.  As
far as getting the most out of OS/2 including at least basic REXX and finding
all the native OS/2 apps to replace the tasks you were doing under DOS, then
that will very likely take more than a month.  But in any case it is easier to
get OS/2 installed and deal with real concerns 1 at a time as they come up,
rather than attempt to foresee everything.  OS/2 is too complex to describe
all the details in advance.  You've already got enough info to get installed.

 AR>> That's why I offered to make the CD for you.

 LP> And I appreciate it.  The comment was made because many responders
 LP> assume that I had an Inet account.

That will be a common assumption by most OS/2 users.  After all OS/2 was
Internet ready before any other popular OS.  And IBM makes the FixPaks
available via Internet.  And most native OS/2 apps are more readily available
via Internet than they are any other way.  While there are alternatives to
using Internet to keep up to date, the hassles soon out weigh the advantages
of using and paying for an ISP account of your own.  Especially if you don't
have to pay extra for every local call to your ISP.  I love Fidonet and will
be here to the very end.  But Internet is far more economical for me.  And
Internet provides Mailing Lists similar to these echoes, as well as almost
instant E-mail with free File Attaches, and FTP, and IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
live, and a host of other options, that all help me to get the most out of
OS/2 easily.

About installing OS/2..
 AR>> Really.  And I suggest you attempt that ASAP.  Less worry that way.

 LP> I promise.  Once all comes together.......................
 LP> Sigh......

I don't doubt you.  But waiting for everything to "all come together" can take
many years.  In the mean time you will find new things come up and they could
cause you more delays.  By that time you will have forgotten a lot of what has
been said already.

I have a friend who has half heartedly been waiting for it to "all come
together" for at least 3 years after gathering info about OS/2 for at least 4
years before that.  He would have had it easy if he had just gone straight
from DOS with DeskView to OS/2.  But by the time he finally got around to
making his very first effort with OS/2, he got side tracked by M$.  Then M$
gained popularity and he started making up every excuse you could imagine why
he couldn't figure out OS/2 even after someone else installed OS/2 for him on
1 of his many machines.  Now he is faced with new problems caused by previous
M$ installations that make it hard for him to install OS/2.  And that is only
because M$ found a new way to make things harder for any M$ user to switch,
while this fellow was delaying for many years.  So in the end he is frustrated
and has problems that 99% of us don't have or can deal with very easily.

Several years ago I would have said almost anyone could learn to use OS/2 in a
few months maximum and then they would never look back at any other OS because
of all the advantages.  My friend proved me wrong.  And he's no fool, he was a
SysOp for a decade.  I just slowly watched him display the effects of being
infected with the broadest term of M$ virus.  Not just on his computer, but
mentally and in his attitude as well.

I don't want to see that situation happen to you.

I'm on the other extreme, so I don't expect you or anyone else to be like me
either.  I can hardly wait for each new version of OS/2.  I'm like a kid
before Christmas.  I've been an official beta tester of almost every version
of OS/2 in the last 6+ years, including Aurora.  And when IBM didn't send me
the new beta CDs as fast as I wanted, then I would get on the net and D/L
about 500MB just to see what it was like, only to receive the official CDs
from IBM a couple weeks later.  LOL.  When Warp4 came out with VoiceType and
some huge app suites that required more hardware power than what I had before,
then I saved every nickel and dime for months until I could upgrade my system.
When Aurora came out with a new File System type (JFS), I ordered a new HD so
that I could backup all of my 6GB of old software and string all my old HDs
together just to test Aurora.  For me some new software similar to a type I
have been using is an irresistible force.  Just the potential for it to do
something better than what I have had is enough to make me get excited.  Yet
like any good beta tester, I make backups, and when testing is over, if things
aren't up to my expectations, then I go back to using the previous version.

The lesson to be learned from all that is that with a reasonable amount of
precaution, you can try out some new OS like for you Warp3-Red, and do it all
in short order with very little time and expense for HW, and still continue to
use what you have had.  You don't have to wait until everyone else has
explained in detail every possible question to find out for yourself what
works.  You'll learn a whole lot more and faster from doing or at least
attempting to do, than you will from procrastinating.  And "if at first you
don't succeed, then try TRY again."

     Thanks and Good Luck,        Andy Roberts
                                  andy@shentel.net
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