SvenOnTech has posted a handful of articles about Apple and its embracing of Windows which has brought the furry of comments. Some agree that it’s a good idea while others toot the OS/2 death horn. Today, we lean to the right and say, yup, it’s entirely possible that the end of OS X and all that is Apple in brushed metal interfaces has just begun.

IBM set out to gain market share with its new object ordinated operating system in the early 1990’s with support of Microsoft Windows built right in. The ideas was to bring over those who already invested money in Windows 3.0 applications to IBM’s new OS without a loss of software investment. Once that happened, the next time OS/2 users upgraded their software, they’d purchase the native 32-bit software instead of the 16-bit crud. Great plan, right? Well, it didn’t quite work out that way as OS/2 sales took a dive into the deep blue after Bill Gates danced onto stage to the sounds of the Rolling Stones “Start Me Up” in August of 1995 with the introduction of Windows95. Once Microsoft and its marketing machine kicked in, OS/2 was pretty much dead even with its new snazzy Warp name well plastered on the white box with a red or blue spine. Windows95, like OS/2, played with the older 16-bit crowd as well as the new 32-bit Windows flavor. Warp was left to only the old stuff and since no one was really developing for OS/2, those who had been with Windows stayed with Windows.

Why wasn’t there any OS/2 applications? Outside of small developers such as the makers of the incredible Impos/2, ColorWorks, and Describe, no one was really making stuff for that OS that also ran the powerful scripting language, REXX. Ya, there was Lotus Amipro and 123 along with Notes, but after development slowed from those applications, IBM was forced to buy Lotus to continue the big name OS/2 software. Didn’t help. Where’s the applications for the better operating system? Heck, everyone knew OS/2 was way better than Windows 95 and even better than Windows NT 3.51 and continued to hold that title at least until Window 2000. So why wasn’t anyone coding for it? Market share and ROI.

ROI, known better as Return On Investment, is what drove developers to Window9x and away from OS/2. When OS/2 first burst onto the scene with 2.0 and it’s new Presentation Manager along with that built-in Windows support, IBM had high hopes it would take the personal operating system back from Microsoft which it handed over to them in 1980 with DOS. But those connected to Microsoft at the hip, there was little desire to start development for an entirely new language when the newer version of what many had been coding for for years was just around the corner. Why bother? Especially if their code ran on this new IBM OS.

Back when Windows 95 was known as Chicago, I had spoken to representatives from big name vendors asking what was up with the lack of OS/2 support. The response was always the same, ‘We’re waiting to see what kind of market OS/2 grows into before committing any engineers to native coding. For now, it runs Win3 apps and that’ll work just fine for now.’

As history showed, IBM did well with OS/2 and financial institutions but could never get off the ground with the home market. Outside of IBM hardware, no other company pre-loaded OS/2 on its computers (which later came out in the Microsoft anti-trust lawsuit that Microsoft had locked these companies into Windows.) No major software titles really came to OS/2 while new versions found themselves onto Windows95 shelves with every passing day. Last winder, IBM finally put OS/2 to rest when it announced it would no longer sale or support it.

Is this where OS X is headed? Many say yes. Boot Camp was the first step in this direction and now with rumors of pure native support of Windows applications in the next release of OS X, 10.5, predictions are flying that OS X is only one character away from IBM’s doom. The magic ball visions may be true if history is any indication. Adobe has already shown it has no desire to make an OS X Universal release until it’s next major update. Having gone to Windows releases before Mac versions for nearly a decade now, virtualization may just be one more reason for the company that was pivotal in success of the Mac to ditch it. Other companies may take the same road if it could mean savings on the bottom line.

Why would Steve Jobs give license to vendors to stop OS X coding? John C. Dvorak thinks it’s because Apple hardware will soon just run Microsoft software. Like Boot Camp, this just could just be the baby step toward making that an easier spoon of medicine to swallow for all the Mac faithfuls among us. Maybe OS/2 was just a model for what Jobs exactly wanted. Maybe.

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