The Workplace Shell provided under OS/2 Version 2.0 introduces an object-oriented layer into the Presentation Manager environment. It provides a mechanism for the registration of object classes, creation of objects within those classes, and the inheritance of characteristics and behaviors from existing object classes. Using the Workplace Shell, an application may be created as a series of objects that interact on the desktop, and which the user manipulates to perform the required application processing. Each object possesses data, which may be defined for the entire class or for each instance, and a set of methods that operate upon that data.
The Workplace Shell functions that allow the creation and manipulation of objects are based upon the system object model, which establishes a basic inheritance hierarchy for objects in the system and defines the underlying protocols which regulate the relationships between objects. The concepts behind the system object model are described in detail in OS/2 Version 2.0 - Volume 3: Presentation Manager and Workplace Shell.