[dba-Tech] What got you interested in technology? IT's rich and famous share their memories

Gustav Brock gustav at cactus.dk
Fri Nov 18 10:33:32 CST 2011


Hi Arthur

In the early 90s I had the "pleasure" of writing for the local PR agency that was responsible for the Danish version of the IBM Helpware Magazine. As such I had to run OS/2 on my 486 pc with 16 MB of RAM to test different things. I liked OS/2 except that no applications were at hand and it had some corners. First at the later Warp version it became polished. 
The task was a nightmare as the British PR agency responsible for Europe supplied the articles and these were loaded with errors I just couldn't ignore should the magazine be of any help for the common user. Thus, I often faced a rewrite rather than a translation.

I have never touched OS/2 since then except for one client who ran an OS/2 server - which basically was the Lan Manager server OS. The server was later replaced with an NT Server when version 3.5 came out.

Did you write about OS/2?

/gustav


>>> fuller.artful at gmail.com 18-11-2011 15:33 >>>
My first box was purchased on March 15, 1983. It was a Unitron, a clone of
the Apple II. It came with Apple SOS and a CP/M card containing 48K of RAM.
First thing I bought was a 16K expansion card. I used to run WordStar,
Supercalc and dBASE II on it. It took about a month to become skilled at
dBASE II and from then on I've been hooked on databases.

Speaking of OS/2, at that time I was a freelance journalist working for
several magazines, writing mostly software reviews etc. IBM flew a bunch of
journalists to Bletchley Park to unveil OS/2. Bletchley park initially
became famous as the place where they cracked the Enigma machine.

A.

On Fri, Nov 18, 2011 at 8:43 AM, Gustav Brock <Gustav at cactus.dk> wrote:

> Hi Arthur
>
> I'll share a part of my memory that for some unknown reason popped forward
> the other day:
>
> Do you remember the time when OS/2 was moving ahead, that a major issue to
> discuss was if it would be able to launch in a machine equipped with 4 MB
> of RAM?
> I don't recall what made 4 MB a magic number but today, where 4 GB is
> standard in main-level machines, it is hard to imagine that this parameter
> could get any attention at all.
> Perhaps it was cost - I guess 1 MB of RAM at those days equals 4 GB today.
> Didn't Compaq manufacture a full-length(!) add-in board with 3 MB extended
> RAM? At a fortune.
>
> /gustav






More information about the dba-Tech mailing list