Many anniversaries are observed in the month of April: OS/2 CONNECT celebrates its second anniversary; our company, M. Bryce & Associates, Inc. (MBA) celebrates its 26th year of business, and; OS/2 celebrates its 10th birthday. As to the latter, "celebrates" is perhaps an inappropriate way of describing how IBM is planning to observe ten years of this excellent product. Ten years is quite a benchmark. The fact that OS/2 has endured in spite of negative press coverage and pitiful marketing efforts by IBM is a testament to the technical credibility of the product. OS/2 has pioneered many innovations in operating systems over the years:
Here again, another marketing opportunity is slipping through IBM's fingers: instead of touting the accomplishments of OS/2 on its 10th anniversary, IBM chooses to do nothing. As this publication goes to cyber-press (mid-March), I know of no IBM sponsored events in the U.S. planned to mark this important milestone. None of the major IBM sponsored OS/2 web pages or any of the major OS/2 newsgroups even acknowledge the date. The only exception to this thus far is IBM France who is planning to observe the 10th anniversary on April 2nd. Although the Swiss were originally planning to celebrate the anniversary, sources tell me that all such plans have been curtailed.
Even if IBM were to miraculously organize a 10th anniversary celebration between now and the end of April, I'm sure it will be too little, too late. Such marketing makes it increasingly difficult to Keep the faith. Perhaps Derek Clarkson sums up our frustration with IBM best in his farewell editorial for OS/2 Zone Magazine; I encourage all of you to read it carefully.
Copyright © MBA 1997
