IBM Ships First Copies of Operating System/2

Rye Brook, N.Y. -- December 4, 1987 -- PRN -- IBM today shipped the first 20,000 copies of its new Operating System/2 (OS/2) (TM).

OS/2 Standard Edition 1.0 allows users of IBM's more powerful models of the IBM Personal System/2 (TM) family to run multiple concurrent applications and gives them access to very large programs and data. This is the first personal computer operating system that has full IBM service support.

More than 60 major software developers already have indicated they will provide programs for Operating System/2 -- opening up a new range of applications for personal computing.

Future releases of OS/2, scheduled for 1988, will include a graphical user interface called Presentation Manager, that divides the display screen into windows allowing the user to view multiple applications running simultaneously; a relational database; and an advanced communications system.

OS/2 Standard Edition has a one-time license charge of $325. For a limited time, licensees of PC Disk Operating System (PCDOS) 3.0 or higher can upgrade to OS/2 Standard Edition for $200 while maintaining their DOS license.

OS/2, which is jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft (R) Corporation, is the first product to participate in IBM's Systems Application Architecture (SAA), a common framework for application programs that can be developed and applied across a broad range of IBM systems.

CONTACT -- Scott Brooks of IBM, 201-930-5231