Sources claim it is Japanese sponsor Hitachi Ltd that must take much of the credit for keeping the Open Software Foundation alive. When Digital Equipment Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co, IBM Corp and the Software Foundation board were preparing to put out the lights, it was Hitachi that reportedly argued the case to keep the Software Foundation going. Hitachi convinced the others to join in the final peace process, with the goal of bring Sun Microsystems Inc, AT&T Corp et al on board. Hitachi still hankers after a unified Unix operating system. Although the chances seem remote, it sees IBM and Hewlett-Packard both moving down the OSF/1 microkernel road that it and DEC have chosen. Indeed, it is Hitachi and IBM that are responsible for funding much of the Foundation’s microkernel development in Grenoble and New York, the company reveals.
