By Joe Barr
Originally published in 1994

IAK 1. It's A Killer 2. the Internet Access Kit: an integrated set of tools for surfing the Internet 3. The first serious shot fired by IBM in its assault on the desktop.

When IBM announced OS/2 Warp, they demonstrated that they had been listening to complaints from OS/2 users. Nobody disputes that OS/2 is technically superior to Win 3.x, but a lack of applications and a troublesome installation process have hurt its acceptance in the marketplace. That may be about to change. IBM has not only improved the installation process by an order of magnitude, but OS/2 Warp now comes with a BonusPak of native applications that clearly demonstrate its multithreaded virtuosity.

The BonusPak includes IBM Works, CompuServe¶'s Information Manager, HyperACCESS Lite, FaxWorks for OS/2, IBM¶'s Person To Person conferencing package, a System Information utility, and a multimedia package that supports video, allowing you to watch the Cowboy game while you work on a spreadsheet or enjoy those Kodak CD versions of your vacation pictures.

Finally, the IAK: SLIP (PPP is coming) connectivity with a single button. It includes everything you need to get around the Internet in style and comfort: gopher, Telnet, FTP, dozens of net utilities like finger and ping.

But the piÇùce de rǸsistance, la crÇùme de la crÇùme, perhaps the first "killer app" for OS/2, is the Web Explorer: a multimedia, multithreaded magic carpet with a first-class ride.

None of the BonusPak applications are throwaways, except possibly the CIS Information Manager. CompuServe gives it away for DOS, Windows, Macintosh, and now for OS/2. There is a reason for that: it helps keep the meter running by keeping folks online a little longer. I much prefer Golden CommPass for accessing CIS. It¶'s fast, it threads, and it lets me read offline while the meter is not clicking.

IBM Works contains the usual applications for such a bundle: spreadsheet, charting and graphs, a database, report writer, and a word processor. None of them are the equal of a top-of-the-line product, but you could easily spend $1,000 buying top-of-the-line products in each of these areas.

The other applications, like those in IBM Works, are not only free--they are usable. Hilgraeve¶'s HyperACCESS Lite is great for visiting the local BBSs on your cyber-tours.

FaxWorks for OS/2 gives you drag-and-drop capability so you can drag a document to either your printer icon or the fax machine icon and be done with it. The System Information utility lets you look under the hood at the processor, memory, and software components. More about these apps a little later--especially the Web Explorer. Let¶'s talk about the weak spot in previous OS/2 releases: the installation process.

OS/2 Warp installs like a dream. IBM has made some real improvements in this area. That¶'s good, because the install has long been seen as a hurdle set so high that most people haven¶'t wanted to fool with it.

I opted for the advanced install, and it completed in less than forty minutes without a single miscue or hiccup. IBM¶'s sniffers (programs that identify the various components in your PC) were sharp: they identified my Mitsubishi CD-Rom, my Tseng ET4000 video card, and my Pro Audio 16 sound card without any help from me. OK, it did pause long enough for me to verify that my Tseng chipset was the ET4000 instead of one of the newer 32-bit Tseng¶'s, but it had already pegged it and was simply asking confirmation. After all the problems I had installing the OS/2 Warp II beta, this was a very welcome relief. No version of OS/2 I¶'ve ever used (and I¶'ve used them all since the 2.0 beta) has installed without a glitch. This one did.

It¶'s still not a world-class install, though. To make it to that higher level, IBM needs to add canaries (software checks of hardware to ensure error-free installation and operation prior to the actual installation) and checkpoints: the ability to stop and restart the install process along the way. Having to start a nearly hour-long process all over again from step 1 after something goes wrong near the end is just silly.

Now back to the BonusPak apps--especially the Internet Access Kit. The Internet is "kewl," it¶'s where everything is happening, like, real-time, right now, man! But it¶'s something of a paradox--it is dweeb-like and archaic in its roots. Like "vi" is to a word-processor with a GUI, the Internet is to Prodigy. Like UNIX shell commands are to drop-down menus and dialogue boxes, the Internet is to America OnLine. Or it used to be that way before hypertext applications appeared to dress things up a bit.

Taking a cue from the rise of multimedia browsers like Mosaic and the huge groundswell of interest in the Internet in general (even politicians are talking about the information superhighway), IBM has developed a complete suite of all the old familiar Internet tools for its multitasking, multithreading challenger for the desktop, OS/2. It¶'s a great combination, and the timing is perfect.

IBM media relations in Austin gave me a copy of the pre-release OS/2 Warp with the BonusPak, and Eden Matrix Online Service gave me a complimentary dynamic SLIP account for a few days to try it out. Let me say right now that I¶'m sold on it. As soon as the checkbook allows, I¶'ll be upgrading to a 28.8 modem for no other reason than the IAK.

IBM gives you a choice of using their network (Advantis) or any other Internet service provider you choose. If you use Advantis, all it takes (besides a modem and telephone line, of course) is a credit card and the click of a mouse button, and you¶'re connected. If you go with another provider for Internet access, you will need to modify one of the sample REXX scripts that come with the package to customize it for that connection.

Once you¶'re connected and the SLIP is running, you¶'re ready to start surfing. IBM recommends you start with the gopher and feel your way around slowly. Nah! Go for it! Fire up the Web Explorer, sit back in your cyber-lounger, and cruise! If you¶'re not already familiar with the World Wide Web (WWW) and hypertext browsers like Mosaic, let me see if I can explain it to you.

Imagine glossy, high-resolution, colored magazines scattered in interesting sites around the globe. Imagine that if you touched (clicked the mouse when your cursor is pointing at it) a word, phrase, or icon on a page of one of those magazines, a voice, or music, or video images flowed from the page onto your screen and out your speakers. That¶'s hypertext. That¶'s WWW. Those are "Home Pages" at WWW sites around the globe.

OK, now that everyone knows what a Home Page is, select the IBM Home Page for your first stop and start your journey. From there you can visit Paris and the Louvre Museum, explore the catacombs, or take a tour of the city. Click and you¶'re reading the latest issue of Wired magazine from their site in San Francisco. Click and you¶'re at the Smithsonian in Washington DC. Want to go back to someplace you were previously? Easy, click on the map icon and then on the site you want. Wham! You¶'re back. Find a place you like and want to visit again? Click another icon to add it to your list of favorites. It¶'s all easy and intuitive to use.

I admit I sat with my mouth open the first few hours I went exploring. It¶'s one thing to write or to talk about a global village; it¶'s quite another to literally see it on your screen.

I do want to add that a 14.4 bps modem is the slowest I would want to use for multimedia browsing. Any slower than that and it would start to drag. Luckily, not only are prices dropping on the 28.8 bps modems, but the standard for that speed (V.34) has finally been agreed upon and is starting to become available.

IBM¶'s announcement of the new release of OS/2 (Warp V3.0) on October 11 did not go unnoticed. Armed with a healthy budget for marketing and advertising, Big Blue is taking full advantage of the fact that Microsoft is a year late getting a 32-bit desktop operating system to market. When Chicago finally gets here, it is going to be facing some very stiff competition and perhaps a much larger installed base than anyone dreamed of just a year ago.

The desktop wars have now started in earnest, but so far only one of the combatants is armed. Microsoft has responded to the OS/2 Warp announcements. Brad Silverberg, a Microsoft VP, appears to be making a bid to replace Steve Ballmer as their official IBM-basher. He gave the Wall Street Journal reporters an unsolicited interview in order to whine that OS/2 Warp was copying all of Chicago's features. The fact that OS/2 Warp is available and here today while Chicago is still in the works didn¶'t faze him one bit. I think we're going to be hearing a lot more of this "Wait for us, we're the leaders!" kind of talk from MS for the next several months.