It looks as if the Unix industry is steeling itself to put its money where it wants to be heard rather than paying out left, right and centre for an uncomplementary collection of mouthpieces. Investors in groups like Unix International Inc, the Open Software Foundation and X/Open Co Ltd have been rationalising their own businesses for several years, and the day is surely coming when – in time-honoured tradition – they will turn on some of these beasts they themselves have created. Sponsors, board and committee members of these organisations are understood to be working on a long-term plan that will ultimately rationalise their individual spending and concentrate their collective purse on an unencumbered Unix body (or bodies) which would proceed with a common set of technology goals and a defined relationship with the new owner of Unix, Novell Inc. We understand investors like IBM Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co, ICL Plc and others have already walked around one of the first hurdles they’d need to clear – bringing together or replacing the now unnecessarily separate Unix International and Open Software Foundation – at one of their regular get-togethers. Betting is that the two will be asked to become one or lose their sponsorship over the course. X/Open, on the other hand, which owes alliegance to none and effectively owns the blueprint for open systems, will likely survive more or less intact, people say. Don’t wait up though – commentators say that it will take a year at least to complete.
