Oh man I know there is always tremendous infighting at IBM. I was there in RTP working on CM/2 and supporting base devel in Austin and Boca.
But all I am saying is that there were fundamental architectural mistakes made with OS/2 that underpin the normal “how on Earth does this company ever make money” stories that one can always say about IBM.
Ah, I never saw the architectural problems except the problems with database integration, support and common APIs between the various databases which ORCL and others (SY) had mastered many years before.
What I saw was all the political nonsense that forced OS/2 to a subservient role in the family. There were very, very powerful people in IBM that treated it like a virus.
I caused a furor when somebody leaked me a copy of FRED and I shared it with a few people. IBM was livid and tried hard to get me fired. I was doing mostly database work and was rather agnostic - except ORCL 6.0.32 was a killer product.
I still keep very close tabs on the database world. But not the focus anymore. I’m much more interested in the business and investing aspects and doing a lot of work in open source. Another very, very contentious area for IBM.