The most striking feature of IBM Corp’s OS/2 release 2.0 will be a new object-based enhanced user interface, Graphical Workplace Model, based on Presentation Manager according to Computer Reseller News. The US trade weekly has been talking to developers that have beta test copies, who say that in contrast to the five distinct logical units in the OS/2 1.3 shell Desktop Manager, File Manager, Print Manager, Control Panel and Task List, the 2.0 shell provides a single interface for managing all types of objects – printers, drives, files and programs, with each defined printer or attached drive a separate icon. Users will be able to manipulate files without worrying about file directory hierarchy, and multiple directory trees will be accessible simultaneously. It will need 3Mb to 6Mb of memory, but IBM reckons that Windows 3.1, which will have similar object-oriented features, will also need that amount of memory to run effectively.
