OS/2 is a series of computer operating systems created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 relative to Microsoft's new Windows 3.1 operating environment, the two companies severed the relationship in 1992 and OS/2 development fell to IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2", because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2" line of second-generation personal computers; the first version of OS/2 was released in December 1987 and newer versions were released until December 2001. OS/2 was intended as a protected-mode successor of PC DOS. Notably, basic system calls were modeled after MS-DOS calls; because of this heritage, OS/2 shares similarities with Unix and Windows NT. IBM discontinued its support for OS/2 on 31 December 2006. Since it has been updated and marketed under the name eComStation. In 2015 it was announced that a new OEM distribution of OS/2 would be released, to be called ArcaOS.

ArcaOS is available for purchase. The development of OS/2 began when IBM and Microsoft signed the "Joint Development Agreement" in August 1985, it was code-named "CP/DOS" and it took two years for the first product to be delivered. OS/2 1.0 was released in December. The original release is textmode-only, a GUI was introduced with OS/2 1.1 about a year later. OS/2 features an API for controlling the video display and handling keyboard and mouse events so that programmers writing for protected-mode need not call the BIOS or access hardware directly. Other development tools included a subset of the video and keyboard APIs as linkable libraries so that family mode programs are able to run under MS-DOS, and, in the OS/2 Extended Edition v1.0, a database engine called Database Manager or DBM. A task-switcher named Program Selector was available through the Ctrl-Esc hotkey combination, allowing the user to select among multitasked text-mode sessions. Communications and database-oriented extensions were delivered in 1988, as part of OS/2 1.0 Extended Edition: SNA, X.25/APPC/LU 6.2, LAN Manager, Query Manager, SQL.

The promised user interface, Presentation Manager, was introduced with OS/2 1.1 in October 1988. It had a similar user interface to Windows 2.1, released in May of that year.. The Extended Edition of 1.1, sold only through IBM sales channels, introduced distributed database support to IBM database systems and SNA communications support to IBM mainframe networks. In 1989, Version 1.2 introduced Installable Filesystems and, the HPFS filesystem. HPFS provided a number of improvements over the older FAT file system, including long filenames and a form of alternate data streams called Extended Attributes. In addition, extended attributes were added to the FAT file system; the Extended Edition of 1.2 introduced Ethernet support. OS/2- and Windows-related books of the late 1980s acknowledged the existence of both systems and promoted OS/2 as the system of the future; the collaboration between IBM and Microsoft unravelled in 1990, between the releases of Windows 3.0 and OS/2 1.3. During this time, Windows 3.0 became a tremendous success, selling millions of copies in its first year.

Much of its success was. OS/2, on the other hand, was available only as an additional stand-alone software package. In addition, OS/2 lacked device drivers for many common devices such as printers non-IBM hardware. Windows, on the other hand, supported a much larger variety of hardware; the increasing popularity of Windows prompted Microsoft to shift its development focus from cooperating on OS/2 with IBM to building its own business based on Windows. Several technical and practical reasons contributed to this breakup; the two companies had significant differences in vision. Microsoft favored the open hardware system approach that contributed to its success on the PC. Microsoft programmers became frustrated with IBM's bureaucracy and its use of lines of code to measure programmer productivity. IBM developers complained about the terseness and lack of comments in Microsoft's code, while Microsoft developers complained that IBM's code was bloated; the two products have significant differences in API.

OS/2 was announced when Windows 2.0 was near completion, the Windows API defined. However, IBM requested that this API be changed for OS/2. Therefore, issues surrounding application compatibility appeared immediately. OS/2 designers hoped for source code conversion tools, allowing complete migration of Windows application source code to OS/2 at some point. However, OS/2 1.x did not gain enough momentum to allow vendors to avoid developing for both OS/2 and Windows in parallel. OS/2 1.x targets DOS fundamentally doesn't. IBM insisted on supporting the 80286 processor, with its 16-bit segmented memory mode, because of commitments made to customers who had purchased many 80286-based PS/2s as a result of IBM's promises surrounding OS/2; until release 2.0 in April 1992, OS/2 ran in 16-bit protected mode and therefor

DethKarz is a futuristic 3D racing game by game publisher Melbourne House. It was released for Microsoft Windows on 6 November 1998. A Nintendo 64 port was never released, it was released digitally on December 2019 by Piko Interactive on GOG.com. Next Generation reviewed the PC version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, stated that "Despite being a shameless rip-off of Psygnosis' Wipeout franchise, Dethkarz is fast and addictive."GameSpot said for the PC, "Dethkarz follows the futuristic racing formula without bringing any real personality of its own." GameSpot rated the game 5.7. IGN said "Dethkarz is just like all the other arcade racers. It's a decent racing game, but it's not as good as Need for Speed 3, Test Drive 5, or Ultim@te Race Pro" rating the game 6.8. DethKarz at MobyGames

The Oppidum d'Ensérune is an ancient hill-town near the village of Nissan-lez-Ensérune, located between Béziers and Narbonne close to the D609 and Canal du Midi. It has been listed since 1935 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture; the settlement was occupied without interruption between the 6th century BC and 1st century AD, its location being chosen because it was a hill with good views over the coastal plain, being close to the Roman road Via Domitia, the Montady lake, fertile agricultural land below. There is a museum on the site which offers a display of some of the finds on the site, as well as giving more information about the fort and the field system. Below the Oppidum was the swamp of Montady, now wedge shaped fields separated by irrigation ditches that converge in the centre. In the 13th century, the swamp was drained; the drainage remains in use. Oppidum d'Ensérune's official website Oppidum d'Ensérune in Hérault's Official tourist office website Ministry of Culture photos