In a meeting with press and analysts in New York Bill Gates reportedly said that he wanted to present an olive branch to IBM. Gates appears to be backtracking on his dismissive attitude towards OS/2 2.0 and now concedes that it will become a fixture in computing for years to come. He seemed unhappy with Microsoft’s campaign for Windows in placing Windows and OS/2 as an either/or option. For example, a few weeks ago Microsoft withdrew its support for the OS/2 2.0 developer’s kit offering Windows 3.1 and NT developer kits in its place or a $750 refund. IBM recently countered by offering to trade the discontinued kit for an IBM tool kit composed of OS/2 2.0 beta code and a host of tools and documentation. Customers see such unseemly squabbling as disastrous for the PC industry – has Gates bitten off far more than he can now chew?
