🚀 go-pugleaf

From: Owner-OS2News@teamos2.org

Subject: OS2News: IBM Responds to Spencer Katt Rumour

Because there has been so much discussion on various networks about the 
January 8 Spencer Katt rumor column in PC Week, I decided that I would 
post a copy of a note that I mailed electronically within IBM to our sales 
teams around the world.

I hope this information helps assure PC users and buyers that IBM remains
strongly committed to the long-term market success of OS/2 Warp.

John

***************************************************************

Once again, rumors in the press about IBM's commitment to OS/2 have the 
boards full of speculation and worry. The latest such rumor in PC Week's 
January 8 Spencer Katt column asserts that John M. Thompson is lobbying 
Lou Gerstner to throw in the towel on OS/2.  First of all, allow me to 
remind you that rumors are exactly what Spencer Katt is all about.  If 
this story had any substance to it, you would have read it on another 
page, complete with IBM's official response.

OS/2 is, and will continue to be, IBM's strategic personal operating 
system.  This is the view held by IBM executives, including IBM's senior
vice president John M. Thompson, and -- as importantly -- by IBM's
chairman Lou Gerstner, as Spencer Katt even pointed out.  

Given OS/2's recent successes, why would Thompson want to get rid of it? 
Even with the unprecedented marketing hype for Windows 95, last year
proved to be a very successful year for OS/2.  About five million copies 
of OS/2 Warp were sold in 1995, bringing the total number of Warp sales 
to more than six million, and the number of all OS/2 customers to more 
than 12 million. And we have just come off our most successful sales 
month ever with more than one million copies of OS/2 Warp being sold in 
December alone!

During the time it took Microsoft to ship Windows 95, our development 
team delivered OS/2 Warp Connect,  an operating system with connectivity 
features ideal for PC users whether they work in small workgroups or in 
large enterprises, and the beta of OS/2 Warp Server, which has received 
widespread approval from the industry and is right on track for a first 
quarter '96 shipment.  On the heels of that beta announcement came the 
introduction of our Directory and Security Server (DSS) beta program, which, 
when combined with OS/2 Warp Server, offers customers a solution 
that no other server OS vender provides.  

Last, but certainly not least, we announced that development was well 
under way for the next generation of OS/2 Warp, code-named Merlin, which 
will also arrive during 1996.  

We intend to continue to gain market share with OS/2 Warp -- both as a
desktop or mobile client operating system as well as a server operating
system. I assure you that you will see OS/2 Warp move in a positive 
direction this year.  Remember that actions speak louder than words, 
especially when those words come from a rumor columnist.

Please share this note with your clients if they have a concern generated
by the subject rumor column.

John Soyring