regardless of the video mode. I still can only configuration difference besides the that LA'" wa.~ costing me. It was more shrink their windows and scroll around, CPU and was that the than jU.'1 lht' l2HK of memory -it's the but I can't see the whole thing. Mac was not on our network. This should use I could have been making of that have tipped me off to something, but the 128K. Graph Plus will put whatever it can The Mac II and MultiFinder computers are so dissimilar that I chalked in memory. When the memory runs out, But I was becoming a bit flustered it up to differences in user interfaces or it goes to disk for that storage. When I with Graph Plus by this point. (I really CPU capahilities. had only ~'iK free, I was hitting the disk wasn't mad at Graph Plus, I just thought I I had ohviously underestimated the with every operation. With 220K free, I was -kind of like blaming the map when power of the for graphical ap­ could do most of the work in memory. you make a wrong turn. I'll get to that in a plications. While I might never recom­ Whilc Graph Plus on the 386 is still not little while.) Even with 4 Mbytes of mem­ mend one to an engineer, for my line of quite as lightning fast as Cricket Graph ory, simple operations like drawing a leg­ work it is actually a very advanced com­ on the Mac, with enough memory it is no end on the screen were still taking a long puter. We have a large monitor on it, so I longer the slow, lumbering beast I had time. When I needed to print eight can see several applications at a time. But been putting up with. graphs that I'd already created, it took me most of my work has to do with 386's and Unfortunately, in order to take advan­ all morning. their applications, so I really can't trans­ tage of this extra memory, I have to re­ One day my managing editor passed fer to the Mac. When DOS operating sys­ boot the computer without the LAN. And along the pronouncement from our pro­ tems can use mega pixel screens for regu­ when I want to print my file, I have to duction department that Cricket Graph lar use, perhaps OS/2 PM will offer me reboot with the LAN. All this rebooting files from a Macintosh would have to be what the Mac can. takes far too long, but the LAN is what supplied for all graphs due to problems makes the printing take 5 to 7 minutes. with importing Graph Plus files. I didn't The Network I am stuck in this catch-22, which is not want to change the way I did business I've hinted several times that there's making me fond of the network. I again, and I especially didn't want to go another problem with my configuration just don't want to lose the time. Perhaps to a Mac. I know the difference between that took me a while to discover. In fact, I'll dive into exactly how many of those preemptive schedulers and the scheduler I've hit up against one last bottleneck device drivers I really need to do my for MultiFinder, and I laughed at the idea that's both big and, at the moment, insur­ usual work. that MultiFinder was a multitasking oper­ mountable. It's also the reason lowe an ating system. apology to Micrografix and for What I'd Really Like To my chagrin, however, Cricket Graph thinking badly of their software. So what's next? Well, I've looked at on the Mac was lightning fast! The long­ In a recent review of the 33-MHz Ze­ VM/386, which I'm told can have one est part of the was importing my nith computer, I tried to get a feel for how screen running DOS with the LAN in­ data files from the Pc. I had to print my day would improve if I swapped my stalled and one screen running DOS with­ Quattro files to a disk file, transfer them 20-MHz for a 33-MHz 386 AT. (Unfortu­ out. But VM/386 supports multiple to a Mac disk, read those into the Cricket nately, I wasn't allowed to make the swap screens, not multiple windows on one Graph worksheet, move the titles to the permanent, but I did get pretty high on screen, so I'm not crazy about the idea. appropriate places, and reformat the col­ the power.) In the course of experiment­ I'm told it's very robust, but I want the umns. This took about half an hour. But ing, I discovered that Graph Plus on my windows. drawing graphs from the data was nearly computer was being cheated. Graph Plus SCO is about to release Open Desktop instantaneous. Compare this to Graph Plus, was getting over 220 Kbytes of memory for its 386 . That will offer a GUI which imported Quattro files directly but on the Zenith with nearly the same con­ called Motif and will run multiple DOS could take 3 minutes to draw each graph. figuration as my computer. But on my windows. In addition, I'm told that Printing was even more impressive. On computer, Graph Plus was getting only mega pixel screens and larger will be eas­ the Mac, I could get control and start the 75K. The configuration difference? My ily supported. If Open Desktop gives me next graph within 10 seconds. Under computer was linked with the 3Com LAN access to my LAN, it may just be the Graph Plus, it was more like 5 minutes. to give me access to printers and a file answer to all my needs._ What a difference on comparably config­ server. ured machines (4 Mbytes of RAM). The I finally paid attention to how much William L. Rinko-Gay is a MIPS technical editor. EPluribus Unix?

lion computers across the country, and the source code for the operating system Will OSF and Unix Unix variants run on nearly every com­ was made available to universities at a puter in existence, from lowly IBM PC low cost. International fix Unix or XTs to Cray supercomputers. But ever since 197 9, when the Univer­ Much of Unix's popularity, in fact, has sity of California at Berkeley took Unix fracture it? been attributed to the ease with which it Version 7 release 32V for the DEC VAX is ported from one hardware base to an­ and modified the operating system to use other. This is possible because only a tiny paging for instead of swap­ ping, there have been two major versions BY SIMSON L. GARFINKEL portion of the operating system is written in assembly language -the native lan­ of Unix. Berkeley'S hackers set about al­ guage specific to each computer system. tering and improving Version 7, adding t all started at Bell Labs in 1969 on a The rest of Unix is written in -the such features as job control, a faster file Digital Equipment Corp. PDP-7, a com­ high-level language whose popularity has system, and TCPI IP networking support. I puter few people have ever heard of, grown hand-in-hand with the growth of In the meantime, AT&T released Unix let alone used. Today the Unix operating the operating system. Unix's popularity System III and System V. system is running on more than 1.2 mil- has also been attributed to the fact Ihat Meanwhile, Microsoft had been ship­ 98 .lfll"i ping a ver..ion o( t 'nL'C l';llk'tl Xenlx. (lng!­ had been haVing with AT&T. nally basc..'d on AT&T S)'lI1Cm III in II)li(J. Many observers and "We, along with another number of Microsoft also followed the AT&T addi­ participants in the major computer companies, felt that to tions to Unix and merged them into XenLx. respond to market demand, we needed, By the beginning of 1987. there were field believe that at least for system software, a single inde­ three major Unix variants -and more than OSF may simply be a pendent software company to provide 225 flavors, according to one estimate - technology in a real open manner that is running throughout the world. ploy to introduce accessible to everybody," says Donald AT&T is now in the process of bringing confusion into the McInnis, DEC's vice president of engi­ together those three principal Unix efforts to create a neering systems. strains into one newall-encompassing OSF is supposed to become a self­ operating system that will be upwardly single Unix standard. sufficient software house, employing up­ compatible with each of its roots, says wards of 400 -it hired 75 people in just Dick Muldoon, a spokesman for AT&T its first three months of operation. Its pro­ Data Systems. Muldoon calls this the "re­ been rewritten to provide several new ducts are to be sold to its members, who unification of Unix." features such as real-time support. Being will in turn sell them to end users, each When people buy an operating system brand-new, McKusick says, the sched­ sale generating a royalty payment to OSF. labeled Unix, Muldoon says, "We want uler is "untested." Many observers and participants in the [them] ... to know that it is going to have field, however, believe that OSF may sim­ the kind of continuity that has come to be The Open Software Foundation ply be a ploy to introduce confusion into the hallmark of the Unix system." People For a group of major vendors of work­ the efforts to create a single Unix stan­ have to be assured, he says, that the stations, the growing acceptance of Unix dard. Members of the academic comput­ applications they use to run their busi­ was accompanied, paradoxically, by a ing community have noted repeatedly nesses are not going to break with each tightening of the terms in the Unix soft­ that all of OSP's initial founders had their successive release of the Unix operating ware license. own proprietary operating systems that system. "The licenses for Unix were becoming were competing with Unix. Furthermore, So far, AT&T's reunification plans are more restrictive," observes Barbara Shel­ corporate executives like IBM chairman right on schedule. Unix System Vl386, hoss, group manager for system software John F. Akers have said that their com­ release 3.2, incorporates all the function­ product marketing at Apollo Computer. pany's commitment to OSF does "in no ality of traditional Unix System V and The System V release 3 contract, she re­ way diminish our commitment to pro­ . Microsoft was chosen to do the calls, specified dates by which the oper­ prietary environments." development effort, and the system was ating systems had to be SVID (System V Barbara Shelhoss believes that any such released in August 1988 for 80386-based Interface Definition) compliant. And the conjecture is "completely inaccurate." computers. final arbiter of compliance was AT&T Apollo, she says, had been shipping an The next step in the reunification of itself -a company that had recently en­ operating system that could be config­ Unix, one that promises to be much more tered into fierce competition with the very ured to be compatible with either System complicated, is to incorporate the companies to which it was licensing Unix. V or Berkeley Unix for many years. "While Berkeley improvements back into the At the same time, explains Alex Mor­ some of the [founders of OSF] had pro­ AT&T distributions. That development ef­ row, Open Software Foundation's vice prietary operating systems as part of their fort is in the hands of , president for strategic planning, an in­ offering, they all also offered Unix-based a major manufacturer in Moun­ creasing number of government contract implementations, and we were all licen­ tain View, California, because, Muldoon bids were specifying Unix System V com­ sees of AT&T for Unix for many years." says, Sun is the company with the most patibility as a requirement, the largest of OSF, Shelhoss and others contend, was experience in working with Berkeley Unix. these being a billion-dollar contract for created so that the founding members An early version of the release 4.0 the Air Force. would have a supplier of system software source code was shipped in late March, Then, says Shelhoss, AT&T announced that was not also in the business of seil­ Muldoon says, and should be available that "it was going to go off to a lab in ing computers in competition with them. from vendors in the fall. It is now in Menlo Park with Sun and develop System Since then, more than 85 members have system test. V release 5 and the rest of the industry joined OSF (see Table 1). With a few One person who has been following was going to be excluded from the pro­ notable exceptions, such as AT&T and V.4 closely is Marshall K. McKusick, head cess." (Release V.5 is a future version of Sun, the list of members reads like a of the computer systems research group the Unix operating system currently under Who's Who of the computer industry. at Berkeley and one of the authors of the development.) Next, AT&T announced Together, OSFs members have corrunitted original Berkeley Unix distribution. "Sys­ that it was purchasing a 20 percent stake more than $130 million in development tem V release 4 is essentially, as far as I in Sun Microsystems. for the next three years. And the com­ am concerned, Sun force-feeding Sun OS It looked to many as if AT&T and Sun pany is beginning to ship preliminary down AT&T's throat, whether they like it were carving up the future of Unix and versions of its products to its vendors. or not," says MCKusick, adding, "They attempting to keep major pieces from the OSP's first product offering is called don't seem to like it very much." rest of the industry. By gaining early ac­ Motif, a window-management and appli­ Nevertheless, V.4 will include nearly cess to the new system source code, Sun cation interface system that runs on top all the major Berkeley and Sun enhance­ might obtain as much as a two-year jump of the popular X Window System that ments to the Unix operating system, in­ over its competition. was developed at MIT. Motif will run on cluding Sun's Network (NFS), For seven of the companies -Apollo any Unix computer that supports X. Remote Procedure Call (RPC) mechanism, Computer, Digital Equipment Corp., Hew­ Motif consists of two principal parts: a and External Data Representation (XDR). lett-Packard, IBM, and three major Euro­ toolkit library that is linked with an appli­ V.4 will have the Berkeley TePI IP net­ pean computer manufacturers -AT&T cation to perform functions such as creat­ working code, including support for sock­ had gone too far. The angered compa­ ing windows and control panels, and a ets and the r shand r 1 og i n commands. nies formed the Hamilton Group, which window manager application that man­ Release V.4 will include support for the fast in May 1988 evolved into the Open Soft­ ages the location and appearance of win­ file system and will implement soft links. ware Foundation, an organization with a dows on the screen of the workstation. One of McKusick's reservations about charter that reflected point by point the Having the X Window system operational V.4 is the system's scheduler, which has problems that the founding companies on a workstation is a prerequisite to run- AUGUST 1989 99 ning Motif, but since Motif runs on top of TABLE 1. Malor vendors participating in OSF, says. It is equally unlikely, he adds, to he X, other X-based applications can run UI, both organizations, or neither. ported to massively parallel computers simultaneously. such as Thinking Machines Corp.'s Con­ I saw Motif demonstrated on an Hewlett­ nection Machine, although an ongoing Packard 9000 series workstation at OSP's Open Software Foundofion ".,; \. OSF research project will be to pon the . Adobe Systems, Inc, 'ir{~'~ .:;~. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, operating system to a multiprocessor en­ .. Altos Computer Systems I ; ',::, . " running the HP-UX operating system. vironment. Indeed, OSF has committed Motif combines technology from X, Mi­ Apollo Computei, In~;i):~\;ii~;; .' Canon, Inc. ;. ).k.;;'}""" t.; ',". 10 percent of its annual operating budget crosoft Windows, and the HP Windows Convex Computer-Corp;; . to research projects. interface into a system that feels strangely Digital EqUirmentCor.p ... ·· On the horizon, OSF hopes to solve natural. Motif uses X to display windows, . Groupe Bul .' ~,.>4,; many of the problems that now plague text, and graphics. It then surrounds each Hewlett·Packard Ccp· the computer industry. One of the most application's window with a window man­ Hitachi ltd. .i·.• pressing problems, says Morrow, is distri­ agement frame, which has a command IBM Corp .... ' '·i". bution. Morrow wants workstation users bar on top that is identical to the one on Micam.lnterian,lnc; . to be able to purchase shrink-wrapped MIPS Computer Syste!iis,lnc:' Microsoft Windows or Presentation Man­ software in a store, take it home to their ager: the leftmost button exposes com­ ;' National Semiconductor Corp. Nixdorf Computer Corp. ; workstation, and have it run on their OSF- mands for the window manager; a button Philips TDS " 1 computer regardless of what CPU is on the right "iconifies" the window, and SiemensAG, . actually in their system. another expands it to cover the entire Morrow hopes to do this by distribut­ screen. A window can be pushed around lJ~ix' i~~rno6~j ing software in an intermediate format - the screen by clicking and dragging the Amdahl Corp. either a dialect of C, encrypted and window management frame. • AT&T UriixSuppor'tGioup ... stripped of comments, or some sort of • ',L;and DotaSysternsSupportGroup Motif's windows, menus, buttons, and intermediate code -which would then all other "widgets" use shading and col­ '. . Control Data Corp.~ . ". ,Fujitsu ltd: .' be compiled for the particular OSF oper­ oring to achieve a three-dimensional ef­ ,;~.\:. Fuji XeroxCompany,Ltd. ating system by a native compiler. Com­ fect. The scroll bars look surprisingly :.i~,. Gould Computer·l·;·!·;;;,l", ••• ,15';' "" ••, :"">" panies would then have to supply just a similar to those on the NeXT computer; single binary object on their distribution the windows scroll smoothly as the corre­ disks, which would be usable by the en­ sponding scroll bar is dragged. tire spectrum of computers that support OSF didn't write Motif. Instead, it is­ the OSF operating system. sued a "Request For Technology" to its ;~~i·';·lng.~; Olivetti &CO';~lnc:&;' .•..".'.".: ~~~r~:~~"'~~~;f~f,.:' Other problems that OSF hopes to ad­ ,"l';:Prime Coniputer, !i'\ci'·.'.':.;;)·~ii" " members describing what functionality dress are copy protection and universal ,.;cl1~''';:]'yramidT echnologyCor~i'.;: 'ii i. . Motif should have. The RFT for the graph­ licensing of technology. "Big vendors think i~{J':; RicohCompanY ltdi·:'·::~1;~.;·t\ ical was surprisingly short - that they should get a special arrange­ "i~.,; •.i Stellor, Computer; Inc.'i:iG.'~ri'r. just two pages. The proposals that OSF " Sun Microsysterns, Inc.c .... c. ment," Morrow says, but so far OSF has received were then evaluated by a panel Unisys Corp. . given everybody the same deal. of computer scientists and artists, which Membership in OSF is $25,000 per year arrived at a decision by taking the best for profit-making corporations, $5000 for parts from each technology submitted. nonprofit, and $2000 for university de­ The final work on the software was sub­ partments. Sponsoring organizations have contracted to DEC and HP. each committed to give OSF a total of $13 OSF members can license the source million over three years. code for Motif for $1000 per CPU per year, says Kathryn Birkbeck, product man­ Unix International ager for Motif. A university site license Six months after the announcement of costs $2000. That purchases a series of the Open Software Foundation, another "snapshots" of the code on a particular group of Unix computer users announced day. OSF employees will be responsible the formation of another multivendor or­ for technical consulting, documentation, ganization to watch over the develop­ and support. A corporation that uses Motif ment of open operating systems: Unix in a product will have to pay a royalty of International. between $10 and $40 to OSF for each Although Unix International may seem copy of the product sold, Birkbeck says. to be an AT&T response to OSF, represen­ OSF is committed to releasing Motif on tatives both inside UI and at the founding the HP9000 and DEC by companies claim it isn't so. "A number of July, Birkbeck says. The Santa Cruz Op­ us," recalls Len Halio, vice preSident of eration, one of the major suppliers of Prime Computer's commercial systems Xenix for 386 systems, has promised to group, "approached AT&T about fixing release a version of SCO Xenix with Open operating services such as "open file" problems with the way we were doing Desktop, which is based on Motif, by this and "get time of day." Furthermore, OSF- business with AT&T." Unix International, month. 1 is promised to have a "streamlined, Halio contends, was an outgrowth of those The rest of OSP's Unix-like operating modular, and completely re-engineered discussions. system, code-named OSF-l, should be kernel, making it a stable and powerful But members of OSF think otherwise. available by December 1989, Morrow says. platform for current and future applica­ They point to the fact that many of Unix The operating system will be based on tions," according to OSF publicity International's goals, such as fair and equi­ AIX, IBM's Unix offering, which is itself a materials. table licensing and equal access to early derivative of AT&T's System V release 2. Morrow states that OSF-l should run source code, were the very differences OSF-l will be both Posix and X/Open on any computer that has virtual memory that forced them to create OSF in the first compatible, Morrow states. Posix and and at least a 32-bit addressing architec­ place. X/Open are emerging standards that de­ ture. "It's unlikely that it will be put on a Unix International is a nonprofit or­ fine the syntax and behavior of basic segmented architecture like the 286." he ganization "open to all parties who have 100 MIPS Project GNU Less than a mile from the Open Soft­ C++ native front-end for the compiler, ourselves, and if we can't, we send !luil ware Foundation, working in a loaned as well as GNU replacement, for the Id, to RMS and he fixes them for us. uSlulh' 130-square-foot office and in part of a nm, size, gprof, strip and ranlib within a day." .

borrowed hallway, is a group of self­ utilities. There is also a GNU debugger. Indeed, says Len Tower .Ir .. (Jill' ()f proclaimed computer hackers who are The software license, which Stallman FSF's five directors, new versi, '11" ,t (;~U trying to alter the course of operating­ calls a "" in contrast to the com­ software are typically l'eil'·'I.'l·d every systems history. puter industry'S "copyrights," requires month. "You are lucky it you get a In many ways, this group is similar to that any individual who distributes GNU release every six month., to a year from OSF. The members are fed up with the EMACS or a modified version of it distrib­ a typical vendor." way AT&T has exercised control over ute it with the source code. Moreover, if As for support, Tower says, "I would the Unix operating system -in particular, parts of GNU EMACS are included in a be very surprised if someone didn't come its source code -and they are writing larger program, the entirety of the up with a company to do GNU sup­ their own competing operating system. larger program becomes "free" accord­ port." To make his point, Tower points The key difference is that this new op­ ing to Stallman's definition. to the success of Mt. Xinu, a California erating system, GNU (standing for GNU's Stallman is quick to point out that company founded to support Berkeley Not Unix), will be free. companies may sell copies of the editor­ Unix. There is also a growing number A free operating system, argues Rich­ and any other piece of software that of computer consultants who offer to ard M. Stallman, president of the Free FSF owns -at any price they wish. support GNU software. FSF maintains a Software Foundation, will allow com­ Companies can simply not restrict their registry of them. puter users to run the operating system customers from turning around and seil­ FSF sustains itself through donations on as many machines as they wish with­ ing the software again or giving it away and the sale of computer tapes contain­ out worrying about site licenses or for free. ing the latest versions of its software. royalty payments. Likewise, vendors of In many ways, GNU is a community Last year, the foundation grossed over turnkey systems will be able to incorpo­ effort. In the FSF's Cambridge, Massa­ $200,000, compared with $23,000 just rate the operating system in their prod­ chusetts, office, there is a 2-inch-thick two years before. ucts without added cost. And since the file of copyright assignment forms­ The hallway where much of the work operating system will be distributed in each one from a programmer who has on Project GNU takes place is littered source-code form, people will be free written a program that is included in the with equipment on loan from various to add features or fix bugs. operating system. Contributions to the computer companies. Hewlett-Packard Ordinarily, there wouldn't be much project are sent back to Cambridge, has promised FSF $100,000 in funds reason to take a group like Project GNU where they get incorporated into FSF's and $350,000 in equipment. FSF has seriously, except for the fact that Stall­ "official release" after they are tested. even received a $25,000 grant from the man is acknowledged by friends and The Foundation'S full-time staff includes Open Software Foundation. enemies alike to be one of the best four paid programmers and a book­ With work on the C compiler wind­ programmers in the United States. Al­ keeper. ing up, the last piece of the operating ready major parts of the GNU system Of course, not everyone is enamored system that Stallman needs to complete are being used on hundreds of thou­ of Project GNU. Perhaps most pro­ is the kernel. Stallman has his eye on sands of computers across the world, nounced with its criticism is Unipress the Mach kernel being developed at Stallman estimates, and are being software, an Edison, New Jersey, soft­ Carnegie-Mellon University. Although shipped as standard equipment by a ware house that sells a version of EMACS Mach has been operational for some growing number of companies, in­ for VMS-, Unix -, and MS-DOS-based com­ time -indeed, it is what runs at the cluding Digital, MIPS Computer Systems, puters. The thrust of Unipress's attack heart of the NeXT computer -parts of NeXT, and Convex. has been that because people don't pay the program still contain proprietary The first GNU program to be made for , the Free Software Foun­ AT&T source code and must be written. available was a version of the popular dation is under no obligation to offer If that doesn't happen in time, another programmer's editor called EMACS. Stall­ support for its products. kernel developed at MIT is waiting in man knew a lot about EMACS -he had But users of FSF products say that the wings. After that, the last major piece written the first version of it when he Stallman and his coworkers are often that needs to be plugged in is the file was a staff member of the MIT Artificial more responsive to fixing bugs than are system. Intelligence Laboratory in the early 1970s. commercial vendors. "We use GCC exten­ "The GNU system will be more or He looked at many versions of the pro­ Sively," says Donn Seeley, a senior sys­ less Posix compatible," says Richard Chas­ gram that had been written since and tems programmer at the University of sell, the company's treasurer. "It will incorporated the best features of each Utah. "We ship a distribution of Unix probably not be 100 percent Posix com­ into GNU EMACS. The program, released for the HP9000 on which GCC is the patible, because Richard [Stallman] will in March 1985, has spread like wildfire standard compiler. We've basically re­ probably make improvements." in the workstation and mainframe world, placed the vendor compiler completely. The first system that GNU will run on, being Widely ported to different flavors Not only have we not heard any com­ says Tower, will most likely be a Sun of Unix, different hardware bases, and plaints, but most people are quite happy workstation, "mostly because that's the even different operating systems. to see this." machine sitting in Stallman's office." GNU Since then, Stallman has written a C But the real advantage of GCC, will probably be running on a second compiler called GCC that, by many ac­ Seeley says, is having the source code. hardware base six months after that and counts, produces object code that is "There are bugs in vendor-supplied com­ "easily ported to a dozen machines faster and smaller than many other com­ pilers that go on unfixed for years. In within a year or year and a half of the mercially available products. There is a the case of GCC, we often fix the bugs initial release."

a vested interest in Unix System V, or students. In many ways, it could be Allen Nemeth, who is both Unix Inter­ who want to help directly influence its thought of as a user group that is able to national's director of technology and the future evolution." Unlike OSF, UI has arrange special favors for its members president of Usenix, a Unix users group, affiliate memberships for individuals and from AT&T. calls Unix International the "product plan- 102 MIPS ning arm for the AT&T Unix Software ing the standards formulated by the isn't that high, a growing numher of COfl]­ Operation." Unix International does no XlOpen group and will work with stan­ panies are memhers of both OSF and development itself; instead, UI is sup­ dards organizations to iron out the differ­ Unix Internation;t!, including Toshiha. posed to make sure that AT&T develops ences between Posix and XlOpen. whose advertisements often stress that its the operating system -and its licensing The effect of Posix, says McKusick, is 386-based laptop is a portahle Unix \\ork­ arrangements -in a way that best suits that the many different flavors of Unix station, and The Santa Cruz Oper:tlion; Unix's users. operating systems "will be much more there are 23 dual members, l.'nix Inter­ While AT&T is still working in a lab in alike than they have been in the past, national's Nemeth says. Menlo Park with Sun, says AT&T's which is good, as far as I am concerned." "We don't see system software as a Muldoon, that development effort is only The areas in which the two operating religious war," says David Bernstein, one of many that are under way­ systems are different are likely to be minor. SCO's manager of systems product mar­ developments that will be shaped by input For example, AT&T recently began ship­ keting. "We see system software as a from Unix International. In the past, says ping beta versions of Open Look, a graph­ challenge to provide all the different Nemeth, important decisions about fea­ ical user interface similar to OSP's Motif. components ..... Our philosophy has al­ tures that the operating system would or Like Motif, Open Look runs on top of the ways been to include multiple interfaces would not support had found themselves X Window System. Although it has a dif­ in the same Unix. For example, Unix 3.2, "on some manager's desk way down at ferent look and feel than Motif, Muldoon with the Xenix way of doing record the bottom of the organization:' That isn't says, the differences are not major. locking, is something we had a long time going to happen any more, he says; Unix Companies who are members of the ago in SCO Xenix. When interesting op­ International will have substantial power OSF consortium say they hope to begin erating system technology comes out of over which features are included and using parts of the OSF-l operating sys­ OSF, we'll probably incorporate it, if which are excluded. tem as soon as it becomes available. "We appropriate." AT&T will grant early access to Unix will be replacing most, if not major parts Bernstein sees the OSF vs liT dehate source code to those companies that pay of Ultrix with the OSF developments as revolving more around issues of licens­ Unix International's annual general mem­ they come out and get tested," says DEC's ing than technology. "There are many bership fee of $100,000. That fee does McInnis. "It's not unlike trying to track software companies whose business it is not, however, purchase a source code Berkeley Unix or AT&T Unix, as we have not to track OSF, ur, Posix, ANSI, and license; that must still be negotiated with in the past." ISO," Bernstein says. What these compa­ AT&T. "We now have desktop workstations nies want to do, he says, is build their with a de facto standard," he adds, refer­ compilers or applications software. Echo­ The Impact ring to Motif, "which is what everybody ing AT&T's Muldoon, Bernstein says that Just what the impact on the computer in the workstation business has been cry­ the most important commitment that a industry will be from the "new" AT&T, ing for, especially the software devel­ supplier of an operating system must make OSF, and Unix International remains to opers." If the industry decides that two is that underlying binary compatibility be seen. Both AT&T and OSF are com­ operating systems are better than 225, between versions of an operating system mitted to making their operating systems McInnis says, it might decide that one is be preserved. _ compatible with the emerging Posix stan­ better than two and make OSF-l the only dard, which defines the behavior of oper­ Unix within a few years. ating system calls for application programs. Perhaps to leave their options open, Simson L. Garfinkel is a freelance Ii'riter and They are also committed to implement- perhaps because the price of admission computerconsultantlivil7R in Camhridf!,e, MA.

Next month in MIPS...

Good floating-point performance is critical for numerically intensive applications in engineering, science, statistics, modeling, and other fields. In the September issue, science columnist Al Cameron will look at processors and techniques that yield top floating-point performance in personal systems. Next month's issue will also bring an update on unified imaging models, the serious, long-term solution to the problem of achieving WYSIWYG. Unified imaging models, such as PostScript and Display PostScript or Presentation Manager and PMScript, drive the screen and the printer in the same way, assuring that what you see on screen is what you get on paper. This article will examine the progress being made in developing these imaging models for displays and printers. Also slated for September are articles on OS/2 device drivers, using TCP/IP to connect Unix systems, and reviews not only of new 80386 machines but of several 386 motherboards that form the basis of many high-performance systems.

MIPS 104