[ryao]

OS/2 is often cited as an cautionary tale of how enabling software for another OS to run is suicide, but everyone who cites it that way makes the wrong conclusion. As counter points, iBCS2 did wonders for Linux adoption and Windows is doing well with Android+Linux emulation. The Steam Deck is also doing wonders with Windows emulation.

OS/2's main problem was that it was only preinstalled on expensive IBM hardware that almost nobody wanted to buy when cheaper hardware was available from IBM PC clone manufacturers like Compaq. The hardware also used MCA, which was more expensive than ISA thanks to IBM's royalties and it was a pain to configure. Nobody wanted that. That sealed OS/2's fate.

That is not mentioning the horrible marketing campaign for OS/2 Warp that made OS/2 sound like it was related to narcotics.

Anyway, had OS/2 been on all of the IBM PC clones rather than Windows, then history would have selected OS/2 over Windows.

[pjmlp]

Windows is running Android and Linux on their own Hyper-V instances, hardly much emulation going on besides the hypervisor drivers.

Android on Windows requires Windows 11, is US only and uses Amazon store, hardly a success.

WSL is being a success to drive Windows sales, because as Microsoft learned from Apple's customer base, it turns out many developers only care about having a POSIX environment and couldn't care less to support Linux vendors Additionally it helps selling Windows containers on top of Docker tooling, for the same kind of customers.

That is the target, nothing else.