According to a survey conducted by Comshare UK Ltd, IBM’s OS/2 operating system continues to confuse large computer users in the UK. When asked whether they thought OS/2 would become a corporate standard by 1993, a striking 37% appeared uncertain, 30% said no, and just 33% said yes. The only other area to rouse similar uncertainty was expert systems; a mere 45% of respondents expected them to form part of future executive support systems, compared to 32% don’t knows and 23% noes. The survey reflects the views of 173 IBM, ICL and DEC users, drawn from banks, retailers, utilities, manufacturers, oil companies, and government departments. Of the other technologies scrutinised, executive information systems came top, with 79% convinced that executives would make routine use of them by 1993, and only 18% saying no. Equally popular were electronic mail and local area networks, with 76% and 78% respectively convinced that both facilites would fully exploited by 1993. In response to the idea of full function portable computers as workstations, only 52% thought that technology would have advanced sufficiently to make this a reality by 1993; 34% did not expect it to happen, while 14% had no opinion. Bringing up the rear was the use of voice input and output; only 9% appeared to think this was feasible by 1993, with 76% convinced it wasn’t, and 15% unsure. Comshare’s software marketing director Nigel Pendse was not surprised by the results, with the noteable exception of OS/2. It just shows that you must have a good range of essential applications in a new environment before even large organisations will endorse it, he added. Further details of the Comshare survey can be gained from Mr Pendse on 01-222-5665.
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