The anointed successor to MS-DOS for Intel 286- and 386-based micros;
proof that IBM/Microsoft couldn't get it right the second time,
either. Often called `Half-an-OS'. Mentioning it is usually good for
a cheap laugh among hackers -- the design was so {baroque}, and the
implementation of 1.x so bad, that three years after introduction you
could still count the major {app}s shipping for it on the fingers of
two hands -- in unary. The 2.x versions were said to have improved
somewhat, and informed hackers rated them superior to Microsoft
Windows (an endorsement which, however, could easily be construed as
damning with faint praise). In the mid-1990s IBM put OS/2 on life
support, refraining from killing it outright purely for internal
political reasons; by 1999 the success of {Linux} had effectively
ended any possibility of a renaissance. See {monstrosity},
{cretinous}, {second-system effect}.
[glossary]
[Reference(s) to this entry by made by: {Amiga Persecution Complex}{dahmum}{second-system effect}{software bloat}]