® NeXT and Open Systems Standards NeXT and Open Systems Standards Standards have become the watchword of the corporate technology manager. And rightly so, because multivendor computing is now the rule. To survive, a computer company must ensure that its products connect and communicate easily with other equipment. With this in mind, NeXT focuses on adherence to industry standards and multivendor con- nectivity. From the start, we built the philosophy of compatibility into all of our products. And we had an advantage. Since the NeXT™ Computer was designed more recently than the products of other major competitors, we saw what standards were actually accepted and which ones truly provided user value. We then incorporated these accepted tech- nologies into NeXT systems. Our view is simple: • Use standards whenever possible. • Invent new technologies when users are dissatisfied with current industry offerings. • Make our new technologies coexist in a heterogeneous world. This document builds a structured model of where key industry standards are required and discusses where they are incorporated into all NeXT systems. We’ll begin with the operating system, the subject of unrelenting UNIX® wars between groups like the Open Software Foundation (OSF) and UNIX International (UI). From there, we’ll highlight the additional standards above the operating system that affect users every day. Before we construct the architectural model we’ll use throughout this document, we also want you to know our biases: The ultimate standards-based computer would be a perfect clone of whatever computer system had the largest market share. This product would bring no surprises. Of course it would also provide no added value to its users. The NeXT Computer was never conceived this way. NeXT’s goal is to provide the finest possible computing environment in order to allow people to work together creatively and collaboratively. But this does not mean that our extensive use of indus- try standards was an accident. In today’s heterogeneous computing environment, the NeXT system is designed to fit in just as well as it stands out. We hope you agree that we developed the right balance between the exclusive use of established industry standards and the goal of adding additional value and functionality for our users. A Structured Look at Standards The Operating System A look at broad-based industry standards requires con- sideration of all parts of a system. As the diagram to User Interface the right shows, we begin with the Operating System. This is also where most open systems discussions in Applications the UNIX world rage. Development Environment On top of this layer lie the key issues of File Formats, how data is stored, and Connectivity, how information File Formats Connectivity is communicated to other people and other platforms. Next we reach the Development Environment. Effec- tiveness of this layer is critical to assure fast delivery Operating System of useful solutions, since on this layer rests the next key component: Applications, including both diverse A great operating system requires five attributes, only commercial applications and custom internal solu- the last three of which require standards: tions. 1. Power to conveniently support running the many Finally, we reach the User Interface, where users actu- applications that users desire ally get their work done. At each level, we discuss the 2. Flexibility to support increasing hardware perfor- role that open systems play and the way that NeXT mance builds on established industry standards to provide 3. Support for standard development environments NeXT users with enhanced productivity and greater and utilities opportunity for collaboration. 4. Powerful networking support 5. Tools for efficient system management UNIX was created with these strengths in mind. True protected memory multitasking means that users can run as many applications simultaneously as they desire, always confident that a single application crash will not bring down the entire system. Hardware inde- pendence allows UNIX to run on system architectures 1 ranging from Motorola to Intel® to RISC to main- NeXT plans to continue compatibility with industry frame. Great utilities assure that UNIX will always standard UNIX variations. Perhaps the most important boast the finest development environments in the near term example of this is POSIX. And NeXT plans world. An architecture built to allow national networks to incorporate POSIX compliance based on Berkeley of users means better networking and communications UNIX Release 4.4, the release now under develop- support than any other operating system. And 20 years ment. of utilities make administration of even these national networks practical. These last three attributes, development support, com- Connectivity munications, and system administration, pinpoint where standards in an operating system are important. User Interface Development environment support eases the conver- sion of software from one platform to another. Com- Applications munication support in the operating system makes high-speed connectivity more straightforward and reli- Development Environment able. And system administration standards make net- works of various sizes feasible while helping File Formats Connectivity encourage the development of comprehensive system administration tools. UNIX supports these three Operating System attributes in a far more developed, far more standard way than any other operating environment. Even the additional NeXT tools that make network administra- Although the hottest topic in the computer industry tion far easier are layered on top of the standard envi- seems to be what flavor of UNIX will be dominant in ronment. The other two mainstream desktop operating the ‘90s, without a doubt the hottest topic by users of systems, MS-DOS® and Macintosh®, have certainly technology is: How do various systems all communi- built up a strong base of development tools. However, cate? Connectivity is one of the two levels in our hier- neither were designed for today’s high speed, wide archy (the other is “File Formats”) where standards are area networking requirements or system administra- critical. And since communication is so often a mis- tion demands. sion-critical activity, connectivity must work reliably For all the above reasons, it is clear that UNIX will and accurately with extremely little disruption. If the be a standard for many years. In fact, according to Personal Computing revolution of the 1980’s was the numerous studies, it will be the fastest growing sys- decade of personal productivity, the 1990’s will be the tem in the computer industry. What is open to more decade of group productivity and collaboration, the question, however, is what dialects will be domi- decade of Interpersonal Computing. nant. The Open Software Foundation (OSF), led by NeXT computers were built for this environment. IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and DEC offer one view of From the standard Ethernet port in every system to the where this standard may go. UNIX International key third party applications we have encouraged, (UI), led by Sun and AT & T, offers another. Motor- NeXT computers fit a heterogeneous computing envi- ola is backing both and, so far, Apple Computer is ronment. Both NeXT and our third parties continue backing neither. No unification of these groups is in development to ensure that connection and communi- sight. cation between commonly used networks is simple, OSF is based on Mach. Developed by researchers at efficient, and inexpensive. And as new communica- Carnegie-Mellon University, Mach is completely com- tions standards emerge, we will add these to our sup- patible with the industry standard Berkeley UNIX ported suite. The following are highlights in the NeXT release 4.3BSD. Further, it offers an efficient, commu- communications story, building up from the physical nication-oriented kernel and offers support for multi- wiring. ple processors and multiple threads between applications. We believe OSF’s choice of Mach keeps Ethernet them on the cutting edge of UNIX development. Every NeXT computer includes an Ethernet controller The decision by OSF to use Mach also ensures align- which complies with standard IEEE 802.3a protocols. ment with NeXT at this key component in the system. On the physical layer, each NeXT can connect directly NeXT systems have used Mach since our introduction to either thin Ethernet cable or 10baseT twisted pair in 1985. In fact, the principal author of Mach now Ethernet cable installations with no add-on products manages on-going system software engineering at needed. The system automatically checks both ports at NeXT. And as described above, this means that NeXT start-up to determine which one is connected, so no Computers are already fully compatible with Berkeley configuration of the ports is required. UNIX 4.3BSD. 2 The result is that every NeXT machine comes ready to multimedia NeXTmail sent between distant NeXT connect directly to the organization’s current high- computers. speed Ethernet network. NeXT users can also exchange mail with colleagues running Microsoft Mail and CE Software’s QuickMail TCP/IP by using Cayman System’s GatorBox® and Gator- TCP/IP has become the standard networking protocol Mail™. for systems ranging from supercomputers to main- Touch Communications provides the most universal frames to the nationwide Internet. It will even be the connection to other mail systems with their World- basis of the proposed National Research and Educa- Talk ™/400 messagingateway. g This product converts tion Network (NREN). Systems supporting TCP/IP NeXTmail, along with most other major electronic can send and receive mail nationally, get information mail systems, to and from an X.400 format compliant from a large number of public and private remote data- with the 1984 CCITT X.400 messaging recommenda- bases, and share files with virtually every other main- tions. It’s also completely GOSIP compliant, offering stream computing platform. On-line services and connection to 802.3 and X.25 networks. information products accessible to systems supporting this protocol are seeing explosive growth.