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IBM has decided to put the OS/2 operating system to sleep. The company said that it will discontinue OS/2 products around the end of the year, and end support at the end of next year.

It has been about nine years since IBM has developed anything new for the OS/2 operating system, but the company has been releasing updates for it.

"We're making official what has been going on for quite some time," said Steve Eisenstadt, an IBM spokesman. "We haven't released a new version of OS/2 in nine years." An article at ComputerWorld says:

IBM and Microsoft Corp. initially worked together to develop OS/2, which was briefly positioned to grab the baton from Windows as the operating system for the future. In the early 1990s, though, the partnership between the two companies unraveled as Microsoft pulled out of OS/2 development to focus its attention on Windows. IBM never managed to find a broad market for the system, although OS/2 was for many years the operating system standard for automated teller machines.

A number of OS/2 devotees would love to see the technology given over to enthusiasts. At OS2World.com, a petition signed by more than 8,000 visitors urged IBM to release OS/2, or as much of it as is legally possible, as open-source software.

These enthusiasts may be out of luck unfortunately for them. It doesn't look like IBM is going to go that route. Apparently there are legal complications that would prevent that from happening.

"It received some consideration, but it won't be open-sourced," said IBM spokesman Steve Eisenstadt. "A number of third parties participated in OS/2's development. There would be significant legal and technical obstacles involved."

Chris is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.