Mourning the Death of OS/2, The Horse I Rode In On
I wasn't always the .NET fanatic that I am today. In fact, before learning about .NET I spent a few years in the Unix/Java/Netscape world working on websites that are still in production today. But before that even, I spent the first 10 years of my career working in OS/2.
I started out working as a contract programmer for Kodak writing xBase programs using tools like FoxPro and dBase III Plus in DOS. Ah, those were the days. When EGA screens were everywhere and my heart thumped at the site of my brand new IBM PS/2 Model 70 A/21. A screaming Intel processor running as much as 21 Mhz! I believe it had the full loudout on memory, a whopping 1 Megabyte (only 640K of it usable by DOS). Shortly after joining on at Kodak though I would get the opportunity that would launch my fledgling programming career when I was sent to training on a brand new language for developing a new type of application called a Graphical User Interrface. The language was called Easel and the compiler alone cost $26,000. It was a very verbose language with syntax similar to this (if memory serves):
visible enabled red graphical region Fred
size 100 100
position 10 10
(etc. etc.)
It had all sorts of other fun syntax like "touchability of" which equates to enabled in modern languages or "resumable block" for creating subprocesses. After working with the language for about a year or so I got the opportunity of a lifetime, and went to work for Interactive Images, the company that made Easel as a developer on their commercial GUI interface to the IBM Profs email system. I was 23 years old then and I absolutely loved my job, my coworkers, and the technology. I couldn't believe I got to do what I did and got paid for it (although not much).
That was when I first saw OS/2 in it's early stages with release 1.1. About this time is also when Windows 1.0 came out but nobody took it too seriously, after all it wasn't business oriented. :-) Well, during those years of working with Easel both for Easel Corporation (formerly Interactive Images) and then when I struck out on my own as a consultant I got to see OS/2 evolve into the premier preemptive multi-tasking platform for PCs. OS/2 however was too far ahead of its time which turned out to be its undoing. The memory requirements for OS/2 were huge at the time (laughable now) requiring as much as 8 Megs. Back then memory was a huge constraint on PCs and so only businesses could afford the investment in 8 Megs. Windows on the other hand had much smaller requirements and as people started buying PCs for home use, Windows spread like wildfire.
I stopped using OS/2 when the Internet caught on but many of my old clients went on to do new development with Easel and OS/2 well into the 2000s. When I asked one client why they still use OS/2 they said "Because OS/2 doesn't get viruses!" In fact, OS/2 is still rock solid as an operating system on the computers it was meant to run on. But time marches on and so IBM has pounded down the last coffin nail for OS/2. With that I not only say goodbye to an operating system, but the horse I rode in on.
Former Easel-ites of Note
There have been several former Easel employees who have gone on to work with other companies and do some pretty great things. Here is a list of the ones I know of and their titles back when I knew them. If you are reading this and you too once worked for Easel, drop me a comment and I'll add your name and info.
R. Douglas Kahn, President
John McDonough, VP of Finance
Steve Sayre, VP of Marketing
Bob Gleason, VP of Sales
Tom Bilotta, VP of Development
Dave Panos, Easel Product Manager
Chris Brookins
Diane Hall, Development Mgr (my ex-Boss and a very cool lady)
Katina Engle (Node 1 of my 3 Node Umbilical System)
Doug Gibson (Node 2 of my 3 Node Umbilical System)
John Gurman