Compaq Computer Corp’s decision to resign from the Advanced Computing Environment initiative adds to what seems to be unstoppable and irreversible entropic momentum at the club, which finds that the move does solve one of its problems: in future, ACE will be confined to MIPS Computer Systems Inc RISCbased hardware but Santa Cruz Operation Inc is widely tipped to abandon the version of Open Desktop for MIPS. The fact that Digital Equipment Corp is also redirecting its efforts into putting NT onto its Alpha RISC (see page five) casts further doubt on the future of ACE. Many are already sceptical that MIPS will retain any independence after its proposed acquisition by Silicon Graphics Inc, and now it’s drawing fire from all quarters and those dismal first quarter figures did not help.
