Maroon&Blue
The TAMU OS/2 Users Group Newsletter
30 August 1995.
Vol. 2 No. 1
OS/2 vs. Win95
A Question and Answer Session
Editor s Note: Recently, Neal was asked a few questions concerning the
merits of OS/2 vs. Windows 95 by a new A&M student and avid (or is
that rabid?) Windows user. The following is an excerpt from that
conversation.
what do you think of Windows 95, and have you used it?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: I've used Win95 for about 8 hours, spread over two
weeks, so my answers are biased towards OS/2 which I've used
consistently for the last five years.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: I've heard OS/2 is slow, and it won't run Windows
applications as quickly as Windows does. Is this true?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: The truth: with no CPU high-priority programs
running in the background, OS/2 runs full-screen Windows applications
around 97% of their DOS speed. Why? OS/2 does not run DOS. It runs a
virtual DOS machine. This means that all DOS calls are interpreted at
the application level and not at the system level. It's very impressive
that there is only a 3% loss in speed.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: How does this compare to the speed of Win95?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: Win95 does some interpretation just like OS/2, but
slower. <cite>PC Magazine</cite> and <cite>MicroTimes</cite> both said
that, on identical platforms, Windows 3.1 ran Windows 3.1 applications
fastest (and no wonder, since there is no extra code interpretation),
then came Warp, then Win95. The last two were closely matched. Windows
NT ranked last.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: But aren't there specific situations in which Win95
is faster than OS/2?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: On the fine points, OS/2 is faster than Windows 3.1
for disk and memory based applications because of its superior caching
and memory management. For graphically intensive programs (i.e. CAD),
Win95 is faster because it uses a superset of the Windows 3.1 graphics
engine and fewer code interpretations. The only in-store comparison
I've seen was Warp on a 486-33 with 8 Megs of RAM and Win95 on a
Pentium-100 with 32 Megs of RAM. Guess which ran faster?
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: Can you give me a summary of the pros and cons of
each system?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: Let's see, HPFS and NTFS have a number of
similarities. Both were written by the same guy and make the minimum
allocation unit 512 bytes. Neither is compatible with the other. OS/2
can be installed on HPFS and booted from HPFS, while Win95 must boot
from FAT. OS/2 is an object oriented platform; Win95 is not. The
difference: OS/2 allows you to easily install new file systems and
application modules. Win95 does not have easily expandable hooks, thus
severely limiting future expansion.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: What about stability for each system?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: OS/2 is stable. It is very difficult for a
misbehaved application to crash OS/2. Win95, in an effort to be
compatible with badly written DOS applications, allows misbehaved
programs (especially those that have memory problems) to hang the entire
system. Therefore, Win95 is more compatible for DOS applications.
However, neither operating systems will execute applications that modify
the CPU registers. In the worst case, OS/2 allows the user to press
control-alt-del and flush all memory caches before rebooting. Win95 has
no such option; a crash means corruption.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: How many applications are available?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: For the programmer, all features of OS/2 are
available and heavily documented, while Win95 is cryptic and has many
undocumented features. OS/2 is still fighting with hardware
manufacturers for device drivers. According to <cite>PC
Magazine</cite>, little OEM device support will be available until the
second release of Win95. Few native OS/2 software programs exists.
According to <cite>PC Magazine</cite> and <cite>Computer Shopper</cite>,
most of the First Wave software developers (those who promised Win95
applications within 30 days of release), have dropped out or will be
heavily delayed. Few native Win95 applications will exist until its
second release.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: What are the memory requirements for each machine?
Win95 claims to run on 4 Megs.
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: Both systems claim to run with 4 Megs RAM. OS/2 runs
well in 8 Megs and great with 16. In addition, average install uses 40
Megs of hard disk space. Win95 runs sluggish in 8 Megs, well in 16, and
great in 32. Average install uses 100 Megs. Most PCs do not have these
requirements, so users will be forced to upgrade. Also, most 8 Meg
machines use 1 Meg SIMMs, so users will be forced to toss out the old
and get new 4 Meg SIMMs. Unlike hard disks, SIMMs have not dropped in
price for a year.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: Win95 allows users to create longer file names. Can
OS/2 do that?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: Win95 is the first Windows system to allow
multiletter file names (no more 8.3). OS/2 2.x has used that feature
since its release, five years ago. Macintosh had that 11 years ago in
its first release; Unix, 25 years ago.
<p>
<strong>Q</strong>: What's the bottom line?
<br>
<strong>A</strong>: In summary, OS/2 is a superior operating system
overall (<cite>PC Magazine</cite>, <cite>Computer Shopper</cite>,
<cite>MicroTimes</cite>, <cite>CNN</cite>), but is shy on drivers and
native applications. It is excellent for mission critical or very
important applications, but unforgiving to misbehaved applications.
(The application will crash quickly, but will not harm other
applications.) Win95 is a significant improvement over Windows 3.1, but
still falls short of the current state of hardware/software evolution
when compared to OS/2, Mac, Unix, and Linux. It is also important to
note that OS/2 is in the third release, while Win95 is still in its
first.<br>
<img src=)
. He
came by to introduce himself and expressed an interest in the
possibility of a demonstration of both Win95 and OS/2 sometime this
year.
<p>
Over the summer more than 20 people have requested that their names be
added to our mailing list. We'd like to welcome y'all to the TAMU OS/2
Users Group and invite everyone to our first meeting of the semester.
(Details in the box below.) The group is open to everyone; you do not
need to be affiliated with the university to join. Also, there are no
dues and no membership requirements. Meetings last about two hours and
generally include discussion of new developments, troubleshooting and
demonstrations. Occasionally there are giveaways of free stuff sent from
IBM (anything from coffee mugs to software).
<p>
Some possible topics of discussion for the first meeting of the Fall
semester include the Home Page (<a href=)
http://os2www.tamu.edu/os2), the Maroon&Blue newsletter, FAQ
creation, club promotion, demonstrations of Win95 and OS/2, future joint
meeting with the ACM, and guest speakers. Door prizes will be given
away at the meeting, including a copy of OS/2 Warp.
Meetings are held the first
Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. in the H. R. Bright Building, Room
104. The next meeting will be held on September 5, 1995. New members
are always welcome. Please check out our home page at http://os2www.tamu.edu/os2/.
OS/2 Facts
- OS/2 was called the Best Buy of 1994 by Computer
Shopper.
- OS/2 Warp won seven industry awards in March, as well as
InfoWorld's Reader's Choice Award for product of the year.
(InfoWorld, March 30, 1995)
- OS/2 has won 56 major industry awards since version 2.0 shipped,
including 5 awards at CeBIT, the world s largest computer trade
show, held this year in Hannover, Germany. (IBM Press
Release, March 30, 1995)
- OS/2 was the operating system used to track the cars in the Indy
500. It posted the times and speeds of every car on every lap in
practice and throughout the race. (IBM Press Release, May 6,
1995)
-
The International Olympic Committee has designated IBM as the
worldwide information technology sponsor of the Lillehammer
(1994), Atlanta (1996), Nagano (1998), and Sydney (2000) Olympic
Games. As such, they plan to use 80 RISC System/6000 servers for
the 6000 OS/2 personal computer stations which will be reporting
event results, news flashes, athletic biographies, and historic
Olympic information. (IBM Press Release, May 6, 1995)
Maroon&Blue is published monthly by the TAMU OS/2 Users
Group. Send software reviews, jokes, tips/tricks, book reviews, and
other material to M.J. Mach, Editor at
os2@cs.tamu.edu.
Deadline for next month's newsletter is Sep 18. 1995.
Submissions may be edited for clarity and length. Authors retain all
rights to their materials.
Disclaimer. Maroon&Blue is an independent publication
and not an official document of IBM, Texas A&M University, the Board
of Regents, or Bill Gates®. OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM.
Return to Maroon and Blue index
Return to TAMU OS/2 Users Group home page