7 Computer Makers Unveil Challenge to Unix
A quiet battle over whose programs will control the inner workings of future generations of computers erupted into the open Tuesday as seven computer makers--including industry giants IBM and Digital Equipment--announced a plan to jointly develop a rival version of AT&T;’s increasingly popular Unix operating system software.
The rift between the new consortium, which will be known as the Open Software Foundation, and the AT&T-Sun; Microsystems Unix alliance was viewed as a setback by those who had hoped that a single common operating system would emerge. Such a common operating system would allow computers--from small desktop models to giant mainframes--to share applications software and to connect easily to one another.
Operating systems control the basic workings of computers and dictate the type of applications software the computers can run. Applications software performs specific tasks such as word processing, accounting and managing information in databases.
“I’m not sure there will be a clear winner or loser between the two camps,” said Richard Fademan, chairman of the computer science department at the University of California at Berkeley. “But from the standpoint of the user, the winning outcome would be if the two groups could be reconciled.”
The Unix operating system, which was developed by AT&T;’s Bell Laboratories unit in 1969, has been increasingly in demand because of its ability to control computer networks and its availability on different makes and models of computers.
AT&T;’s strategy for penetrating the computer industry has relied heavily on Unix emerging as an industry standard. Such a development would shift control of the computer industry out of the hands of companies with proprietary operating system software, such as IBM and Digital Equipment, and put more power into the hands of consumers. It would also allow AT&T; to compete on its strengths, including its ability to create huge data and telecommunications networks and its service capabilities.
AT&T;’s hand was strengthened when it announced an alliance earlier this year with Sun Microsystems, the red-hot maker of scientific workstations, and invited other companies to get in behind the new standard.
But, noted Berkeley’s Fademan, while AT&T; and Sun were promising an open system that would allow all makers’ machines to interconnect, the participants in the Open Software Foundation “feared that AT&T; would be in the drivers’ seat.”
“The new group is saying, ‘Our car is also open, but we’re offering the front seat to anyone who wants to jump in’ ” by offering them a greater role in the creation of the software, Fademan added.
Besides IBM and Digital Equipment, the participants in the international venture include Apollo Computer, Groupe Bull, Hewlett-Packard, Nixdorf Computer AG and Siemens. The seven have pledged more than $90 million and significant numbers of key staff members to begin work immediately.
“The creation of a standard software environment is one of the most important issues facing the computer industry today,” said John L. Doyle, chairman of the new foundation.
