OS/2 Warp Software Migration: Visual Recovery of Industrial Legacy UIs

The blue boot screen of OS/2 Warp is a ghost that still haunts the server rooms of Tier-1 manufacturing plants, global banks, and telecommunications hubs. While the rest of the world moved to the cloud, these mission-critical systems remained frozen in time, often because the source code was lost during a merger in 1998 or the original developers have long since retired. When the hardware finally fails, organizations face a terrifying reality: they are running billion-dollar operations on "black box" software they can neither update nor easily replace.

A traditional warp software migration visual project usually begins with a forensic audit that lasts six months and yields nothing but frustration. According to Replay’s analysis, 67% of legacy systems lack any form of usable documentation, making manual discovery a non-starter. If you can't read the code, you have to watch the screen.

TL;DR: Modernizing OS/2 Warp and other industrial legacy systems is no longer a "rewrite or die" proposition. By using Replay, enterprises can leverage Visual Reverse Engineering to convert screen recordings of legacy workflows into documented React components. This reduces the average migration timeline from 18 months to just weeks, saving up to 70% in development costs while eliminating the risk of "lost" business logic.

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The $3.6 Trillion Technical Debt Crisis#

The global technical debt has ballooned to an estimated $3.6 trillion. For industries like manufacturing and finance, a significant portion of this debt is locked within OS/2 Warp environments. These systems were built using IBM’s Common User Access (CUA) guidelines—a precursor to modern design systems—but the underlying logic is trapped in 16-bit or 32-bit binaries that modern compilers won't touch.

The risk isn't just technical; it's existential. Industry experts recommend that any system older than 20 years be treated as a "black box" where the UI is the only remaining source of truth. When the source code is gone, the only way to understand what the system does is to watch a user interact with it.

This is where a warp software migration visual strategy becomes essential. Instead of trying to decompile ancient C++ or Assembly, we capture the visual intent of the application.

Video-to-code is the process of using computer vision and AI to analyze video recordings of legacy software interfaces, identifying UI patterns, and automatically generating modern, functional code equivalents.

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Why 70% of Legacy Rewrites Fail#

The statistics are grim: 70% of legacy rewrites fail or significantly exceed their original timelines. The primary reason is "feature creep by discovery." As developers start rewriting an OS/2 application, they realize the UI hides thousands of undocumented edge cases.

In a manual rewrite, a developer might spend 40 hours per screen just to map out the state transitions and component hierarchies. With Replay, that same screen is documented and converted into a React component in roughly 4 hours.

Comparison: Manual Migration vs. Replay Visual Recovery#

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Executing a Warp Software Migration Visual Strategy#

To successfully migrate an OS/2 Warp application, you must move from a "code-first" mindset to a "visual-first" mindset. The OS/2 Presentation Manager and Workplace Shell (WPS) used specific UI paradigms—like notebook controls and object-oriented folders—that contain embedded business logic.

Step 1: Capturing the Workflow#

The first step in a warp software migration visual process is recording real users performing their daily tasks. In a manufacturing setting, this might involve a technician entering telemetry data into a 32-bit OS/2 terminal. Replay captures these interactions, not just as pixels, but as a sequence of state changes.

Step 2: Component Extraction#

Once the recording is ingested, Replay’s AI Automation Suite identifies recurring UI patterns. In OS/2, this often means identifying the specific "CUA" buttons, list boxes, and entry fields.

Step 3: Generating the Modern Stack#

The goal isn't just to make it look modern; it’s to make it functional. Replay generates clean, documented TypeScript and React code. Below is an example of how a legacy OS/2 data entry form is transformed into a modern, type-safe React component.

typescript
// Generated by Replay Visual Reverse Engineering
// Source: OS/2 Warp Industrial Telemetry Module (Screen ID: 0x44F)

import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Button, TextField, Card, Typography } from '@your-org/design-system';

interface TelemetryData {
  machineId: string;
  temperature: number;
  pressure: number;
  status: 'IDLE' | 'ACTIVE' | 'ERROR';
}

export const TelemetryEntryForm: React.FC = () => {
  const [formData, setFormData] = useState<TelemetryData>({
    machineId: '',
    temperature: 0,
    pressure: 0,
    status: 'IDLE'
  });

  const handleInputChange = (e: React.ChangeEvent<HTMLInputElement>) => {
    const { name, value } = e.target;
    setFormData(prev => ({ ...prev, [name]: value }));
  };

  return (
    <Card className="p-6 shadow-lg border-t-4 border-blue-600">
      <Typography variant="h2" className="mb-4">Machine Telemetry Entry</Typography>
      <div className="grid grid-cols-2 gap-4">
        <TextField
          label="Machine ID"
          name="machineId"
          value={formData.machineId}
          onChange={handleInputChange}
          placeholder="e.g., PM-102"
        />
        <TextField
          label="Temperature (°C)"
          name="temperature"
          type="number"
          value={formData.temperature}
          onChange={handleInputChange}
        />
        {/* Replay identified this as a legacy 'CUA Pushbutton' */}
        <Button 
          variant="primary" 
          onClick={() => console.log('Submitting:', formData)}
          className="mt-4 col-span-2"
        >
          Update System State
        </Button>
      </div>
    </Card>
  );
};

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Bridging the Documentation Gap#

67% of legacy systems lack documentation. This is the "silent killer" of enterprise IT. When you perform a warp software migration visual project, you aren't just moving code; you are recreating the lost documentation.

Replay’s "Flows" feature maps out the architecture of the legacy application. It shows how User A moves from the Login screen to the Inventory screen, documenting every click and state transition along the way. This visual map serves as the new "Source of Truth" for the engineering team.

How to Document Legacy Systems is a critical read for architects who find themselves in the "documentation desert."

The Importance of Design Systems#

One of the biggest mistakes in legacy migration is creating "one-off" screens. To avoid creating new technical debt, Replay allows you to map legacy UI elements to a centralized Design System (the "Library").

For example, if the OS/2 application uses a specific type of data grid, Replay can be trained to recognize that grid and always output a specific

component from your internal library.

typescript
// Mapping legacy OS/2 Table Controls to Modern Components
// Replay Blueprint Configuration

export const legacyMapping = {
  'OS2_TABLE_CONTROL': {
    target: 'DataGrid',
    library: '@enterprise/ui-core',
    props: {
      density: 'compact',
      enableExport: true,
      theme: 'industrial-dark'
    }
  },
  'OS2_NOTEBOOK_TAB': {
    target: 'Tabs',
    library: '@enterprise/ui-core',
    props: {
      variant: 'scrollable'
    }
  }
};

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Security and Compliance in Industrial Migrations#

Industrial and financial environments cannot use "black box" AI tools that send data to the public cloud. Security is paramount when dealing with sensitive infrastructure or PHI (Protected Health Information).

Replay is built for these regulated environments. Whether you are in healthcare, insurance, or government, the platform is SOC2 compliant and HIPAA-ready. For high-security industrial sites, Replay offers on-premise deployment, ensuring that your warp software migration visual data never leaves your internal network.

Modernizing Regulated Systems explores the specific challenges of migrating software in the banking and healthcare sectors.

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The Economics of Visual Reverse Engineering#

Let's look at the numbers. An average enterprise rewrite takes 18 months. If you have a team of five developers with a fully-loaded cost of $150k each, that’s a $1.125 million investment before the first user even touches the new system.

By using a warp software migration visual approach with Replay, that timeline is often compressed by 70%.

1. •Discovery: Reduced from 400 hours to 40 hours.
2. •Prototyping: Reduced from 600 hours to 60 hours.
3. •Development: Reduced from 2000 hours to 600 hours.

This isn't just about saving money; it's about opportunity cost. Every month your team spends fighting with OS/2 Warp is a month they aren't building new features that drive revenue.

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Why "Visual First" is the Future of Architecture#

As a Senior Enterprise Architect, I’ve seen countless projects stall because the "code" was too messy to touch. The UI, however, is always clean because it has to be usable. By focusing on the visual layer, we bypass the technical debt and focus on the business intent.

The warp software migration visual methodology allows organizations to:

• •Preserve Tribal Knowledge: Record the experts before they retire.
• •Maintain Business Continuity: The new system looks and feels familiar, reducing training costs.
• •Clean Up the Stack: Generate modern TypeScript instead of trying to patch 30-year-old C.

For more on the architectural shift toward visual recovery, check out our Guide to Visual Reverse Engineering.

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Frequently Asked Questions#

What if we don't have the source code for our OS/2 Warp applications?#

This is the primary use case for Replay. Because Replay uses a visual-first approach, it does not require access to the original source code. By recording user interactions, the platform can reverse-engineer the UI components and workflows, generating modern React code based on what is visible on the screen.

How does Replay handle complex business logic that isn't visible on the UI?#

Replay excels at capturing the "Visual Intent" and UI state. For deep backend logic (e.g., complex database calculations), Replay provides the "Flows" and "Blueprints" to document where these calls happen. This allows your backend engineers to focus on recreating those specific API endpoints while Replay handles 100% of the frontend and UI orchestration.

Is the generated React code maintainable?#

Yes. Unlike "low-code" platforms that output spaghetti code, Replay generates clean, human-readable TypeScript and React. It follows your organization's specific coding standards and can be integrated directly into your existing Design System and CI/CD pipelines.

Can Replay work with terminal emulators or green-screen applications?#

Absolutely. Whether it's a native OS/2 Presentation Manager app, a 3270 terminal emulator, or a Java Swing interface, if it can be displayed on a screen, Replay can record it and convert it into modern components. This makes it ideal for a comprehensive warp software migration visual strategy.

How long does a typical Replay pilot take?#

Most organizations can see their first set of modernized components within 48 to 72 hours of the initial recording. A full pilot project typically lasts 2-4 weeks, during which we map out a core workflow and deliver a functional modern prototype.

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Ready to modernize without rewriting? Book a pilot with Replay