With the two companies that most openly expressed their dismay at the creation of the Open Software Foundation alternative Unix club Unisys Corp and NCR Corp – now firmly in the so-called Archer Group that is backing AT&T’s System V.4 – and accounts for 75% of Unix systems sold so far, the schism in the Unix world is well nigh complete, and unless a truce between Archer and the Open Software Foundation can be reached quicky, the point of no return will loom. AT&T has effectively conceded all the issues that led to the disaffection of the Hamilton Group and formation of the Foundation. AT&T will form a separate subsidiary for development and licensing of Unix, Archer members are to advise on licensing decisions and future Unix directions, and AT&T is now committed to equal access to all for new Unix releases. The 18 members of the Archer Group are Amdahl, CDC, Fujitsu, Gould Computer, ICL, Intel,Motorola, NCR, Olivetti, Prime, SunMicrosystems Toshiba and Unisys on the hardware side, plus Human Computing Resources,Informix, Lachman Associates, Micro Focus, Unisoft.
