End of the road for IBM's OS/2

IBM will stop selling the OS/2 operating system at year's end, marking an end of an era for Big Blue.

IBM, which made the announcement this week, said it will discontinue OS/2 products by 23 December and withdraw standard support for OS/2-related products as of 31 December 2006.

Support for OS/2 will only be available under a service contract after 2006.

"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."

Big Blue is directing its OS/2 customers to switch to the Linux OS.

OS/2, which debuted in April 1987, struggled to gain the wide acceptance that Microsoft's Windows enjoyed. While OS/2 may have been considered technically superior to Microsoft's early versions of Windows, the operating system failed to prosper due to a lack of applications written for it.

Concerns about the future of OS/2 arose at least three years ago.

OS/2, which was the first Intel-based 32-bit multitasking operating system aimed at the PC market, currently has fewer than 80 customers that hold more than 10 licences, Eisenstadt said.

Dawn Kawamoto writes for CNET News.com.