UK’s Defense Research Agency reports interest in ANDF, the architecture neutral distribution format technology, once the Unix industry’s great white hope for creating write-once, run- anywhere applications, has risen dramatically since the Linux bandwagon began gathering momentum in the last few months. The agency’s TenDRA, the basis of ANDF, has been available as freeware – or open-source as it is more often called now – since February. DRA licensed the proprietary technology that enables ISVs to write, package and distribute single versions of an application or system software for use on any system sporting an ANDF compiler, to the Open Software Foundation, Novell Inc’s Unix System Labs, and Mortice Kern Systems Ltd. DRA says that its licensees agreed that the best hope for TenDRA was to turn it into freeware. DRA believes open source could become a major force in the industry and TenDRA is another example of an attempt to jump on the open source bandwagon. DRA points out that one reason why the TenDRA release might be of particular interest is that many companies have had trouble upgrading C++ to the ISO standard, and its release has one of the first ISO C++ compilers, and it’s freely available. DRA is funding a small amount of support work on the release whilst waiting to see if interest in it takes off. Other DRA research projects – including one on program analysis – are using TenDRA as a basis. DRA thinks that with Oracle, Informix et al announcing ports and Intel buying into Red Hat, Linux appears to be making a breakthrough in commercial credibility. It also points to Microsoft Corp Steve Ballmer’s observation at the recent Seybold conference that open source poses a threat to its business – also pointed out in its SEC filing – while Linux and NT are claimed to be the only two operating systems growing market share.
