Hello Hans!
Thursday February 13 1997, Hans Mangold writes to Patrick Spence:
 HM> Patrick, I wish OS/2 followers would wake up and smell the coffee: even
 HM> IBM has made it _very_ clear that it is *NOT* interested in the
 HM> consumer market.
Actually IBM have not made anything at all clear.  IBM's marketing division 
couldn't sell their way out of a wet brown paper bag, and nothing appears set 
in cement at this time.
 HM> market is embracing NT.  Where does that leave OS/2???  1996 was "The
 HM> Year of the Browser".  Was there even one single browser for OS/2
 HM> that hit the retail shelf in 1996?  Nope.  What does that tell you?
 HM> ATM machines don't need browsers.
Then the copy of NetScape 2.02 for OS/2 that I have, dated 1996, is a figment 
of my imagination?  NetScape/2 was released with great fanfare by IBM and 
NetScape, at least in the OS/2 world.
 HM> Have you written to IBM lately and asked them why "Merlin" sales are as
 HM> dead as a doornail?  And why even the OS/2 magazine folded?
It's simple.  There seems to be a corporate ethos at Big Blue that they don't 
have to advertise, that the world will still beat a path to their door and 
accept that the IBM route is the path to true enlightenment.  Afraid it just 
aint so anymore.  If OS/2 Merlin (inluding voice type/navigation) recieved 
he
same three ring circus treatment that Win95 did then sales would be through 
the roof, for sure the ability to *talk* to your computer, to have it do what 
you want by voice alone is something that people have wanted for years.  It's 
here, now, and comes bundled with Merlin.  That alone should have it walking 
out the door faster than the disks can be produced.  Instead IBM's marketing 
is woeful and the trail of FUD that is spread about OS/2 continues unchecked.
 HM> Patrick, instead of asking others to re-evaluate their priorities, I 
think
 HM> you should re-evaluate yours.  Can you say: Windows 95 and / or NT ?
I can, but I usually barf when I do :-)  Seriously, it saddens me to see what 
is a superior operating system languish for want of decent marketing.  It's 
the VHS v beta thing all over again.
Bye for now,
          Jackson
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