Initially OS/2 was a joint IBM and Microsoft development. We in the programming community began to embrace this new, fantastic, windows, Graphical User Interface (GUI), and understand what was under the hood, to enable us to write device drivers to speak to our hardware.
Its command line interface, that is DOS-like prompt, allowed me to assemble my utilities to run in DOS or in OS/2. I wrote macro type simulation code to replace the DOS interrupt system (INT 10, INT 21, etc.) with the appropriate OS/2 system calls. I maintained this duel compilation function for many years, until OS/2 sales really drooped.
OS/2 was a technically great product, but the giant IBM could not perhaps change fast enough. After the IBM/MS split, the then much smaller Microsoft rapidly brought out their own windows, the best known iteration being Microsoft Windows 3.1, and it took off. At the time, in certain circles, it was thought the technical weaker product was winning, but smaller also meant much more, quicker, innovative, with the advertising to match.
As a programmer, OS/2 had a fast learning curve. For example the system function were categorized byte <type><action>, like videoSetCursor, and used the FAR PASCAL function calls, that is the parameters are pushed onto the stack, but the system function cleans up the stack before returning control, using a relatively new Intel cpu code, RETURN nn.
Later, the word 'Warp' was given to OS/2, I think to try to stress its speed, and appears to be the IBM name still today.
Try going to www.software.ibm.com/os/warp, which seems to auto-direct to
: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/os/warp/
to learn more about this IBM product.