OS/2 – Graves On SOHO Technology

Tech that I miss: Email Tagline Inserter

I’ve been online a long time. My first computer, purchased in 1988, was an IBM PC-AT clone boasting an 80286 CPU running at a blistering 12 MHz. It had a 14.4K modem and I started using CompuServe to get online. Initially running MS-DOS, over time I transitioned to IBM’s OS/2. This is how I came to use an email client known as PMMail from Blueprint Software Works. PMMail was the superlative email client for OS/2.

As OS/2 waned (and eventually collapsed) in the marketplace, PMMail was ported to Windows as PMMail 2000. So, my email history migrated to Windows without issue. I continued to use PMMail 2000 Pro for many more years. In fact, I used it until my employer forced me onto Outlook in 2006.

PMMAIL 2000 Windows

Even when forced to use Outlook I kept PMMail around. It was Win32 program that really did not run well on anything after Windows XP. For a long time, I maintained a Windows XP virtual machine with a copy working copy of PMMail installed. Sadly, that VM was lost to a hard drive failure.

January 3, 2008
Michael Graves
Computing

A couple of weeks ago a friend gave me a box that I had not seen in a long, long time. It’s a complete install set for IBM’s OS/2 v3, a.k.a “Warp” I could barely believe my eyes. Never have I seen a product delivered on so many floppies! There are 21 diskettes for the OS and some drivers, then another 14 diskettes for the “Bonus Pack’ which included some basic productivity software, internet access, etc.

Back in the early 90’s I was serious fan of this software, and for good reason. On a humble 486 PC running at 66 MHz it could do some major multi-tasking. It could run in 8MB of RAM, just barely, or do useful work in 16 MB. It could do some truly astounding things in 32 MB or more.