AT&T Co has relaxed its requirement for Unix System V.3 licensees to take the full range of Network Services Extensions included in the version – previously a major sticking point with many of the companies that subsequently joined the Open Software Foundation. V.3 networking extensions included the popular Streams I/O services, the OSI Transport Layer Interface, but also the less popular Remote File Sharing system, seen as superfluous by many licensees. Previously, AT&T had insisted that all systems claiming to be V.3-conformant would need to use RFS as well as the other Network Services components. But at the end of last week, AT&T sent letters to its licensees saying that this was no longer a requirement. The move was welcomed by the industry: ICL’s Peter Cunningham said it reflected AT&T’s more open attitude to its technology and licensing. It also removes a further obstacle towards a reconciliation between AT&T’s Archers and the Open Software Foundation.
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