Unisys Corp’s Linc applications development environment is now up and running on the IBM Corp RS/6000. Linc, described as an integrated procedural development environment for commercial applications, is suitable for the development of transaction processing applications, can support two-phase commit operations, and even uses object-oriented concepts such as code modularity, separation of specification and implementation and close coupling of data and business rules, according to Unisys. It has, however, been around for some time and was originally a native application generator for the Burroughs A-series mainframe. Unisys subsequently converted it to run under Unix on its iAPX-86-based hardware boxes, including the re-badged Sequent Computer Systems Inc Symmetry. A Sun Microsystems Inc Sparc version was announced last year. The new version uses a Windows-based development and testing environment for collaborative development over a local area network, with the RS/6000 used to generate the complete application system and to execute the run-time production environment. It uses the Oracle database and generates Cobol native to the system – Micro Focus Cobol on Unix systems. Prices for the Windows-based Linc development environment begin at $12,500 per developer, with run-time versions costing $2,400 for up to eight users, and $300 for each user beyond eight.
