Novell Inc’s Unix Systems Group is using Linux, a Unix System V.4 clone – which is available over the Internet as freeware – to develop Expose, a graphical 32-bit operating system that runs MS-DOS, Windows, NetWare and Unix applications, PC Week and other sources believe. They say Novell started taking an interest in Linux about nine months ago and reckon Expose is already in beta, with product details expected by the end of May or early June. The product is expected to compete head-to-head with Microsoft Corp’s Chicago, and will apparently conform to Spec 1170 by the end of 1995. Linux runs on Intel Corp 80386-based hardware and above, and was developed by a Finnish programmer, Linus Torvalds. It has been enhanced by Torvalds and others over the Internet in the past two years. Its utilities come from the Free Software Foundation’s GNU and Linux is available under a GNU Public Licence. Novell and Unix Systems Group both deny the product exists.
