"OS/2 is not dead - it's being reincarnated."

Those are the words of Mike Lawrie, general manager of IBM's Personal Software Products division, which oversees development of the embattled operating system. Lawrie has spent the past five months evangelizing OS/2's transition to network computing, and he wants everyone to know that it will be an important player - albeit a niche one -- in that space.

Next week, at IBM's Technical Interchange conference in St. Louis, the company will show a new version of OS/2 that runs on network clients but runs and manages applications from the server. In an interview with PC Week, Lawrie said the new software, which may not ship until 1998, uses the client's hard disk as a caching device and manages the data logic at the server.

The new product is part of PSP's overall strategy to turn OS/2 from a broad-based business computing platform into a more focused network computing platform - a message Lawrie and other executives have been hammering home for months.

"PSP is very relevant to the network computing model," he said. "It's not OS/2 vs. Microsoft - it's OS/2 as a solid technology to help customers transition to the network computing world."

The IBM division, which is based in Austin, Texas, and now employs more than 1,000 worldwide, is working with customers to transition to the more open network computing framework, Lawrie said. While he acknowledges that some customers are moving from OS/2 to Windows NT, he believes there's a better option for sites that have put major custom development efforts into OS/2.

"OS/2 has been exceptionally strong with customers who have been creating their own applications," Lawrie said. "It would cost a whole lot to convert to NT, without a whole lot more functionality." IBM, he said, is starting work with OS/2 shops to transfer some of their application portfolios to Java, transitioning over time to a "pure Java" model.

Java will play an important role in future OS/2 development as well, as the Warp client becomes more Java-based over time and fills "a whole array of niches," including smart cards, which Lawrie called "the ultimate thin client."

Lawrie maintains that IBM is committed to future development for the OS/2 client. The bulk of future enhancements will be distributed through the company's Software Choice program, announced last week, through which subscribers can download new features via the Internet. Those releases would be packaged into a full-blown upgrade "every 18 months or so," Lawrie said.

But PSP's main focus will be on the server, where officials believe OS/2 has a solid future. IBM, however, is no longer willing to go toe to toe with Microsoft over operating systems.

"It you want an off-the-shelf application and you feel NT is the best platform for that, then that's fine - we'll help you. It's not a religious war," Lawrie said.

Source: PC Week