There were many, many applications developed for OS/2. Microsoft even had a 16-bit version of Word and Excel for OS/2 1.3, but because they didn't like IBM any more they never updated them for 32-bit OS/2.

OS/2 2.0 also included a much better collection of games than Windows 3.x.

OS/2 can run both DOS and Windows 3.0 apps. It includes a special version of Windows 3.0 that runs in a VDM (Virtual DOS Machine). This version of Windows is specially modified to redirect Graphical Device Interface calls to OS/2, this enables the applications to run seamlessly on the OS/2 desktop.

Like most other GUIS, OS/2 has support for international settings. This lets you specify how you want to see dates, numbers, and currency values formatted. Different countries have their own ways of doing things. Having this as a setting keeps applications from having to be rewritten for each one.

Shutting down OS/2.

The shutdown option is located in the desktop's pop-up menu. From the documentation it seems OS/2 2.0 was designed just to be powered down with the power switch (This was standard operation for DOS and Windows systems of the day) and you only needed to shut down if you wished to save your desktop settings.