OS/2's Demise: How IBM's Commitment Shaped Modern Software

A retrospective on a 1995 Usenet post by Gordon Letwin, Microsoft's lead architect on the OS/2 project, reveals the true reason for OS/2's failure. It wasn't the lack of native applications, but IBM's commitment to designing OS/2 for 286 machines already sold, missing the opportunity to embrace the 386 processor and its potential. This allowed Windows 3.0 to rise and dominate the market. The article argues that IBM's adherence to customer promises, while seemingly responsible, ultimately led to OS/2's downfall and profoundly impacted the direction of modern software, such as the ever-increasing size of programs.