Warp got to stores, IBM says

Boston Globe

October 27, 1994

IBM acknowledged yesterday that some copies of its new Warp operating system software containing a potentially debilitating technical flaw did reach stores before the "bug" was discovered.

A corporate spokeswoman said no recall is planned because the company expects few if any consumers will be affected.

International Business Machines issued a statement yesterday saying the Boston Globe, which first reported discovery of the bug in yesterday's editions, "inaccurately implied" that the defect would significantly delay availability of the widely touted product.

Allison Johnson, a company spokeswoman, said in the statement that fixing the defect "caused minimal interruption to the manufacturing process." She said some boxes of Warp will be available in stores next week and that the product would be widely available on Nov 4. Johnson characterized the flaw in Warp as "a tiny bug" that escaped detection during testing by tens of thousands of volunteers.

Johnson, who had told the Globe on Tuesday that no copies of the program had reached store shelves before the defect was detected, said yesterday that "there is a small amount ... in a couple of stores." She said she had no precise figures but estimated that perhaps "a couple thousand" boxes were in retail channels.

While much of the software on the market today contains bugs, IBM has touted WARP as version three of a proven, field-tested product - OS/2 that would run Windows programs more reliably than Windows itself can run them.

Copyright 1994