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Last updated June 6, 1998 |
Page made by Don K. Eitner
Jump the Original Page clicking this URL:
http://www.tstonramp.com/~freiheit/os2apps.shtml
The table below shows what software is currently available for OS/2 in comparison
with what is commonly used on the various Windows platforms. If you're already a
Windows user wondering what OS/2 has to offer, first find the product category in
which you're interested. Next find the application(s) you use in the Windows column
and look at what's available in the OS/2 column. If more than one application is
listed in a single cell, it means those apps are more or less similar in power and/or
use (or this was the closest fit I could find in the case of an application which
defies exact comparisons).
Since this is a list of only currently available and being supported (by their
developer) applications, a large number of OS/2's total application base is not
included. Such applications as Microsoft Word and Excel for OS/2, WordPerfect for
OS/2, and Corel Draw for OS/2 are no longer sold or supported by their makers, and
of course previous versions of current applications have no place here, so earlier
versions of Lotus SmartSuite and StarOffice are not listed.
All apps listed are native except in the case of a few DOS apps which have graphics
front ends that run natively in Windows, so the OS/2 column lists none of the thousands
of Win3.1x, Win32s, DOS or Java applications which it can run, nor does the Windows
column list Java or DOS apps since a DOS application is not exactly native Windows.
However Win32 console (command line interface) applications are listed because they
make direct calls to the Win32 APIs; they are technically Windows applications in
the same way OS/2 command line applications are native OS/2 apps. This is one major
reason why there aren't more Windows games listed--many of them are DOS-based (Doom,
Duke Nukem 3D, Ultima 8, etc).
Obviously I cannot list every single application (I still fail to see why anyone
would need 107 different Windows text editors that use the VBRun DLLs) but I've
tried to place as many of the most common applications as possible. If you notice,
especially in the games sections, Windows tends to beat OS/2 in total number of
applications by having dozens of the same game coded by different people who bought
Visual Basic. How many Tetris games do you really need? How many 1st person bloodbath
games made by ID? There is no shortage of native OS/2 applications, there's just
too many clone applications for Windows.
Note that this table further does not include applications which are bundled
with the operating system, primarily because there are currently 3 quite different
releases of Windows in use (3.1, 95 and NT) and 2 of OS/2 (Warp 3 and Warp 4), each
of which include widely different applications. However I have listed the apps that
come with OS/2 at the bottom of this page for additional reference--but they are
not counted in my UnOfficial Tally (see below). If you wish to count them
in your own assessment of OS/2's application base, then go ahead and add 31
to my UnOfficial Tally. I think there actually are more apps included with OS/2,
but they're fairly minor.
What you do with these links is your responsibility. I make no guarantees that
you will find any products which will suit your needs nor do I necessarily recommend
every product that appears here. Programs are programs, and not a single one of
them is absolutely perfect. If they were, there would be no need for upgrades or
other products.
Please report dead URLs to me via e-mail. If you find a dead link and know of
the URL to get, for instance, the newer version of the app in question, I'd greatly
appreciate knowing. Thanks!
A big thanks to the maintainers of OS/2
Warp on the 'Net where I expanded many of my categories for this list. Their
list is quite comparable in number of apps listed, but the one thing they have that
I currently cannot is text descriptions of many of the applications. Be sure to
give them a look.
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CATEGORY |
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File Managers |
ZTreeBold File Manager/2 Captain Nemo File Commander/2 Midnight Commander Commander FileJet File Freedom MR FilePM IBM File Manager for OS/2 - FREE FileStar/2 IBM STPOS2 - FREE Warp Cabinet DirMaster Jet Commander Look/2 Disk Jockey Browse |
ZTreeWin Commander File Manager Step-Up File Manager Jr. 95 Dir3D Quick & Dirty File Manager FileJet Nico's Commander FileKick Jet Commander Turbo Browser 98 Disk Jockey98 |
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Special Needs/ Applications for the Disabled |
IBM Screen Magnifier/2 IBM Screen Reader/2 |
ZoomLens |
IBM Dialer
Dial Other Internet Providers
Ultimail Lite
Lotus Notes Mail
NewsReader/2
WebExplorer
FTP
FTPPM
Telnet
TelnetPM
FaxWorks Lite
Hilgraeve HyperAccess Lite
Person-to-Person
IBM Works
VoiceType Dictation & Navigation
Klondike Solitaire
Chess
Mahjongg Solitaire
System Information Tool
Icon Editor
EPM Enhanced Editor
System Editor
Video-In
Multimedia Viewer
Digital Audio
Digital Video
MIDI Player
CD Player
Java Development Kit
WinOS/2 & all standard Windows 3.1 applications (solitaire, file manager, etc)
MDOS & standard DOS applications (QBasic, Debug, etc)
SFS Software CoffeeShop - Programming,
Java
SFS Software iavaZIP - Compression
SFS Software DocFather - Programming Utility
SFS Software SiteForum - Internet news
server
Sun HotJava - web browser
Innoval J Stree Mailer - e-mail client
Innoval AnyClient - e-mail client add-on
MaxBase
- database
xBaseJ
- database
Client Side Image Map Editor - HTML
editor
HotSpot
- HTML editor
RGB Color
Picker - HTML editor
jftp - FREE - FTP
client
Dirc - IRC client
Space Estate: The Fracture Wars - Game, Action
Cyno's DigiClock - digital
clock
Cyno's Editor - text editor
Cyno's FileSplitter/Splicer
- file splitter/splicer
Cyno's Finger Gateware -
Internet Finger client
Cyno's Sticky Notes - PIM/Organizer
Cyno's Image Viewer - image
viewer
CodeQuill -
text editor
jPadHD - PIM/Organizer
siclone
- web mirroring
Web Java
Copy - web mirroring
Weasel
- IP poster
Java Chatter
- chat client
ICQ Java - chat client
NewsAgent
- newsreader
IBM eNetwork Host-on-Demand
- network management