The PM uses a variation of cooperative multitasking (meaning that an errant PM application can block out all other PM applications)ģ) there are some odd-ball design limitations. If we don’t care about backwards compatability then this might be a lesser issue.Ģ) while the kernel is true multitasking, i believe the Presentation Manager is is not. This was retained for compatability reasons. To expand on Kevin’s point, there are some significant subsystems that need upgrading:ġ) I believe that the OS/2 graphic subsystem and file subsystem still has a fair bit of 16-bit code (remaining from OS/2 v1.1 that was designed to run on 80286).

The legal stuff here could take years to resolve. Especially since Microsoft still owns some parts of OS/2.

Look at if you need examples of how long it takes to strip licensed source code out of a product before releasing it to open source). Mind you, there are some serious issues surrounding open-sourcing of a formally closed source product like this (eg. Wouldn’t it be ironic if OS/2 were to officially die as a commercial product only increase in popularity if it were open sourced?

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