Re: Alternative to VPC

Bob St.John wrote:
> Andrew Willerding wrote:
>> Now that VPC for OS/2 is a Microsoft product with no future
development
>> likely on OS/2 and currently not even available for purchase, are 
>> there any
>> other utilities (other than ODIN) or usable Virtual Machines available
to
>> run the occassional Win32 apps?
> 
> 
> This is something we recognize as a requirement.
> 
> Regards,
> Bob St.John
> Serenity Systems
> 

Bob, the problem is that the *reverse* (Win32 is the priority while OS/2 
is the niche) is still largely the Perceived State Of Things (amusingly, 
VirtualPC 2007 beta 1 for Win32 supports eComStation 2.0 beta 3, even on 
Windows Vista, fantastically well, and a heck of a lot better than 
either Parallels Workstation 2.2 or VMWare Workstation 5.5.2).

In fact, I have several good things to say about eCS 2 beta 3 (compared 
to previous versions of both eCS and OS/2 itself for that matter):

1.  Better (in fact, MUCH better) support for 32-bit and 24-bit color. 
Unlike OS/2 (or eComStation without eSchemes), going to a 24-bit (16.7 
million colors) background or theme won't make you cringe!  This is one 
of those unrecognized (but true) issues that have severely roadblocked 
the acceptance of eComStation (and OS/2 before it) as even a *some of 
the time* operating system.

2.  Usable out of the box.  Like previous versions of eComStation, it 
supports an entirely CD-based installation on most hardware.  (This is 
something that OS/2 itself severely lacked.)  It also includes all the 
features of MMPM/2, Win-OS/2, and the 32-bit TCP/IP stack and utilities 
found in the heretofore unbuyable Communications Client Pak for OS/2 Warp.

3.  SMP/multicore support.  This is a biggie, as multicore is not just 
the future anymore, but is *right now*.  The better threading support 
combined with multicore support could help the development of 
multicore-aware applications in the short and medium term, not just 
long-term.

Keep up the good work!