What is OS/2 Warp's Internet Connection? OS/2 Warp ships with a BonusPak of full-fledged, 32-bit applications, including a suite of Internet access applications. This article describes those capabilities, why you might choose OS/2 Warp to connect to the Internet, and how to configure and customize some of the special features found in the OS/2 Warp Internet Connection. The Internet Connection supplied with the basic OS/2 Warp package provides everything you need to access the Internet using a direct dial-up Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point to Point Protocol (PPP) connection. There are two modem dialers supplied with the package. One registers you with the IBM Global Network (currently the only worldwide dial-up Internet service provider) and the other lets you sign onto any third party provider of your choice. With every copy of OS/2 Warp you get three free hours of Internet access on the IBM Global Network. OS/2 Warp has several key benefits, which make it a powerful platform for accessing the Internet. One of OS/2's key strengths for years has been its ability to reliably handle communications (including modem traffic) in the background along with other tasks. OS/2 Warp provides true preemptive multitasking and multithreading, often called "real multitasking". Other operating environments, including Microsoft Windows and Macintosh System 7, provide cooperative multitasking. The difference is that OS/2 Warp, and not individual applications, is in charge of your PC's processor. In a cooperative multitasking system, if one programmer writes one application that does not yield control of your PC's processor back to the operating system in timely fashion, everything else stops running. Unfortunately, that failure happens all too often. With OS/2 Warp, you can reliably and confidently download a file from the Internet using file transfer protocol (ftp), browse the World Wide Web using the IBM Web Explorer, format a diskette, print a document using your favorite word processor, and still run other DOS, Windows, and OS/2 applications. File transfers will not abort, and connections will not drop, simply because you try to go do something else. With OS/2 Warp, you are encouraged to go spend your time doing other things while receiving information from the Internet (or doing anything else, for that matter). That capability allows you to save a lot of on-line time (and charges), because you can have several tasks running at once. Many OS/2 Warp users, for example, run two or more copies of the IBM Web Explorer simultaneously. While one copy is retrieving a page from the World Wide Web, the other copy can be read, without in any way disturbing any other task. Preemptive multitasking also means that OS/2 Warp can be used just as easily as a server, delivering information over the Internet as requested. OS/2 Warp systems are used as ftp, gopher, and even World Wide Web servers, for example. If you have any questions about this procedure, please post a note in the appropriate topic area in the appropriate topic or forum area. Be sure to include your OS version and your model number (i.e., 2155-G82).