CS361: Operating System

Ian Harmon - Computerworld 1991

Microsoft

• FTC filed antitrust case over Windows and OS/2, but Microsoft vowed to stay "aggressive"
• Excel continued to compete with Lotus 1-2-3. new version to use "enhanced visual features of Windows 3.0"
• Windows 3.0 was continuing to gain popularity, 3.1 was around the corner but was delayed
• Microsoft planned to incorporate OS/2 features into a 32-bit Windows

IBM

• beside Microsoft, IBM also clashed with Novell over their Netware operating system
  • IBM agreed to sell "Netware from IBM"
• was on the verge of introducing 486 processors

CPUs

• RISC continued to suffer a decline
  • RISC leaders contemplate move to desktop in order to target Sun
• symmetric multiprocessing is still around corner
  • in mean time, IBM works on "loosely coupled" multiprocessing, where each processor runs its own copy of the OS

Business

• IBM takes outsourcing deals of two major banks. "outsourcing" still means USA

Laptops

• IBM working on 386SX laptop, at 7.5lb, 20MHz, 2MB RAM, and 30-60MB HDDs
• price war between companies slows down, with mainstream laptops ranging from $2-7k

Operation Desert Storm

• laptops used in field operations
• mainframes used to map out plans
• computer-guided weapons were mostly successful. Patriot missiles were the only weapon system to suffer notable failures, failing to intercept some SCUD missiles.
  • slow data transmission ruined early warning time for SCUD detection

Hacking

• Operation Sundevil, carried out by the Secret Service, experienced slowdowns. Previously, over 40 computers and 23,000 disks had been siezed.

Predictions

• some alarmism already surrounds the Y2K problem
• computers of 2000 will be "multifaceted information appliances"

Hardware Improvements

• early LCD flat panel tech out, predicted to quadruple in seven years
• modems are blazing fast at 19.2kbps. would take about 3 hours to watch a music video on YouTube these days.
• hard drives are getting better due to new manufacturing processes. 300MB drives around corner.

Computer Data

• Unicode standard in proposal stages
• in spite of lawsuits toward each other, many corporations sign on as providers of "open solutions". many use POSIX standard.
• Library of Congress implements friendly UI for data retrieval on its collection of 16 million books
• piracy is still a major problem. some companies add terms to employment agreements.

Not In Computerworld

• World Wide Web opened to public after several months of being commercial- only
• Linux created, merely as a hobby OS