The satellites were humming yesterday as IBM Corp and Apple Computer Inc invited the world to look in on the consummation of their nuptuals taking place as we closed for press last night but the announcement was something of an anti-climax, because there were no major changes or advances on the outline agreement between the two companies. The feast was dominated by Banquo’s ghost in the shape of OS/2 2.0: with the most imminent development being software that links Macintoshes more closely with IBM mainframe and mid-range hosts promised as soon as December, data processing managers are going to be wondering whether if they want graphical user interfaces, they should bother with applications-poor OS/2 or simply go for applications-rich Mac System, at the same time mulling over where the new alliance leaves Systems Application Architecture Common User Access. Motorola Inc, as expected, gets to make the PowerPC versions of the Rios RISC from the RS/6000, and some future Macintoshes will use this chip – and the only surprise is the two to three years the partners now say it will take to get silicon out the door. The two will develop a new OSF/1-based Unix called PowerOpen that will run AIX, A/UX and Macintosh applications, but Apple will continue to develop the System V-based A/UX as well. Since A/UX already runs Macintosh applications, PowerOpen effectively simply replaces System V with OSF/1. The two have decided to form separate jointly-owned subsidiaries – both dominated by Apple people and based in Calfornia – for object-oriented operating system development and multimedia development, but needless to say, the pair were studiously vague, particularly on where the object-oriented Pink will fit in with the offerings from the two companies that will lead into it.
