Maroon&Blue

The TAMU OS/2 Users Group Newsletter

5 December 1995. Vol. 2 No. 4

Future Plans for OS/2 Products

On November 15, 1995, John W. Thompson, general manager of IBM's Personal Software Products division spoke at the COMDEX convention in Las Vegas about new products planned for OS/2. These products include the next version of OS/2 Warp client and microkernel-based versions of OS/2 Warp.

Code-named Merlin, the next version of OS/2 Warp client will offer improved multimedia and game capabilities, enhanced plug-and-play features, and an updated Bonus Pak. IBM also plans to significantly enhance OS/2 Warp's user interface to be more intuitive.

The microkernel-based versions of OS/2 Warp will be created for both Intel and Power PC plastforms. The first portable version will be OS/2 Warp for the Power PC. --comp.os.os2.announce

IBM Siting in Bond Film

Several people on the comp.os.os2.misc newsgroup have pointed out IBM's presence in the latest James Bond movie, Goldeneye with Pierce Brosan in the lead role. Specificially:

While meeting Q, Bond closes a Thinkpad.
In Russia, Bond's love interest, Natalya Simonova (played by Izabella Scorupco) enters a store marked with IBM logos and selling IBM computers.
In Cuba, Bond destroys a plethora of IBM computers, including one which is displaying a bitmap of OS/2 Warp.

Meeting Notes. . .

At the next meeting, Neal will demonstrate the new time management software by ON Technology. Books and T-shirts will also be given away as door prizes.

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 December 5, 1995. New members are always welcome.

Performance Results for OS/2 Warp on Pentium Pro Processor

OS/2 Warp and Pentium Pro processor performance tests were conducted in IBM's performance test labs using a 150 MHz Pentium-Pro processor compared to a 133 MHz Pentium processor-based system.

Software Product          Performance Gain

ColorWorks                121%
DIVE Direct Video
   Enhancement            113%
Argonaut Robot             88%
SAS                        70%
Open GL - DX               53%
Micro Station              49%
Open GL - CDRS             47%
Movie Player               45%
Visual Age                 30%

IBM Press Release (November 1, 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 Jan. 22 1996. 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.

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