Thinkpads Forum

http://www.os2world.com/petition/
Here is a petition to get IBM to open source OS/2 (at least part if not the whole).

Unfortunately it is impossible for IBM to release OS/2 as Open Source w/o spending millions of $ first trying to untangle the license mess that is now contained in the code.
And IBM has no business case to justify such an expense to their shareholders or investors, not to speak about their lack of motivation.

given sufficient impetus, pigs WILL fly..
however, batuta is right on the mark..

and i think there is no impetus sufficient to make the IBM porker give up the source code for OS/2 anything and take flight..

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Batuta wrote: MS and IBM were supposed to cooperate on the code in the beginning, so they both just poured their parts into a common bucket.
Later, after the split up, IBM decided to simply pay a flat licence fee to MS per each sold copy of OS/2.

This is probably the main reason why OS/2 will never be open-sourced. Given that at the moment MS prefers paying millions of fines rather than showing any sort of source code to partners, I wouldnt expect they will simply let it go for possible use by competitors!!!

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Batuta wrote: Just a few weeks ago I read an interview with Billy Boy were he spoke about OS/2 as if the OpSys wars had never ended.

Hi, Batuta,

Would you post the link to this article? I would very much like to read it.

Best,
RadarCat

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Batuta wrote:For RadarCat: (various links)

Thanks for the links, Batuta. I really enjoyed reading them.

Here is my favorite quote from those links:

from "OS/2 Programmer's Guide" (forward by Bill Gates):
"I believe OS/2 is destined to be the most important operating system,
and possibly program, of all time. As the successor to DOS, which has
over 10,000,000 systems in use, it creates incredible opportunities for
everyone involved with PCs."

Kind of says something about the real value of OS/2 . . .

Best,
RadarCat

BigWarpGuy wrote:http://www.os2world.com/petition/
Here is a petition to get IBM to open source OS/2 (at least part if not the whole).

Hi, BigWarpuy,

I signed the petition.

I also asked IBM to at least consider releasing the source code to their Web Explorer browser as I've been wanting to play around with browser code for years.

Best,
RadarCat

Hi, All,

I was just over at OS2World at http://www.os2world.com and noticed that 5,127 people have signed the petion to open source OS/2 Warp as of April 26, 2005.

According to Martin's post:

So far following sites has mentioned the petition and of course the notice at Slashdot really boosted the people that have signed up;

- Slashdot
http://developers.slashdot.org/develope ... =136&tid=8

- Inquirer
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22793

- GUI Linux
http://guilinux.com/article.php?sid=105 ... =0&thold=0

- Newsforge
http://newsvac.newsforge.com/article.pl ... /25/154255

- OSDir
http://www.osdir.com/Article5195.phtml

- TechWatch
http://forums.techwatch.com.au/viewtopic.php?t=4413

If you know of any sites that have posted the article, please then submit it to following thread within the online forum at OS2 World:

http://www.os2world.com/cgi-bin/forum/% ... &P=1#ID475

and if you remember the former EDM/2 Publisher / Editor-in-chief - well then this thread is for you:

http://www.os2world.com/cgi-bin/forum/% ... 4DjDcD#ID2

URL:
http://www.os2world.com/petition/

Best,
RadarCat

You know, as nice as it'd be to open source OS/2, batuta really hit the nail on the head. The OS is so intertwined with licensed content. To untangle their licensing knot, IBM would have to pay a shipload of dough to various corporations, mainly Microsoft. To make it harder, Bill Gates would likely try to drag things out and make things harder to untangle just to ensure further that OS/2 dies, which is actually quite silly considering his public stance in 1989 when he said publicly "OS/2 is the system of the 90's."

As of right now, every single OS/2 copy sold gains revenue for Microsoft, and to keep things simply put, Microsoft will go out of their way to keep it that way.

I would rather sign the petition and have it rejected than to not sign and never know if my signing could have made a difference. Even if IBM does not open source the whole OS/2 source code, it would be great if they could open source parts (parts that they have control over/own).

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Even if there's little to no hope, people are still going to sigh the petition. I hope this doesn't sound too clicheic, but I guess in a sense, all the people here signing that petition are fighting for what they beleive in.

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My computer is my [censored] and that piece of @#$! better does as I tell it to or else!

Wow, you stated that better than I ever could have. I almost fell over I was laughing so hard after reading that.