IBM-Hewlett alliance aims for Unified Unix
From the outset, it has been clear that COSE, the Common Open Software Environment, would have to be more than just a unified desktop interface, and this week, two more pieces of the COSE puzzle appear to be dropping into place (CI No 2,142). These are to be COSE II for networking, interoperability and distributed computing, and COSE III for systems management, and there will be more where those are coming from. COSE, it turns out, is part of a much wider recipe that was originally cooked up by Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM Corp, prime movers in the effort to meet the threat to Unix – and OS/2 for that matter – posed by Microsoft Corp’s forthcoming Windows NT operating system, and probably two of the firms with potentially the most to lose. The objective of their Unified Unix vision is to put together a cost structure for open operating environments that can match NT on the desktop. The two appear to be working through a shopping list of NT’s ingredients, ticking off those features and functions that can already be found in their own, or equivalent, open systems products that are already on the market, or are on the way. The simplest way of getting the outstanding items on board as cheaply as possible is by means of technology exchange and cross-licensing agreements, and COSE was seen as forum for effecting this. The other COSE companies – principally Sun Microsystems Inc with Unix System Laboratories Inc and Santa Cruz Operation Inc – were approached to support an effort that became bigger than Hewlett and IBM could handle alone.
Common kernel not necessary
IBM and Hewlett-Packard decided – or were persuaded by independent software vendors – that a common kernel was not a necessity for competing with NT, which is why COSE does not address the issue, even though some observers still believe that the perceived lack of a common Unix kernel will hand Bill Gates a propaganda advantage. In Hewlett-Packard’s view, users don’t give a damn about the kernel anyway, what they need is application programming interfaces, says European computer systems marketing manager Bernard Guidon. He says the COSE process is just a way of breaking Unified Unix down into attainable goals. Although inspired by the threat of NT, Guidon claims that COSE also grew out of pressure on Hewlett-Packard and IBM from large end users and independent software vendors demanding Unix standardisation. Novell Inc’s imminent acquisition of Unix System Labs made the COSE desktop effort easier, he says, and – with the exception of NT supporter Digital Equipment Corp – agreement with the other Unix suppliers was relatively painless. Guidon, who describes COSE (I) as the tactical execution of an agreed set of desktop strategies, says that COSE II and COSE III will follow because it doesn’t make sense to unify the desktop if you don’t do the rest. Just how COSE II and COSE III will turn out remains unclear, although a systems management working group initiated by the COSE firms will likely be a vehicle for these developments. According to Guidon, COSE II will include everything related to networking, distributed computing and interoperability. An alpha specification – described as the Distributed Computing Environment plus a broader set of distributed computing services – with an application development environment, is now doing the rounds. The more shadowy COSE III should result in a standard distributed systems management environment specification that may include the Tivoli Systems Inc object-oriented applications programming interface. Guidon says meetings are going more or less constantly – the X/Open Co Ltd-hosted COSE get-together in Menlo Park on Tuesday was likely used to take stock. Digital Equipment Corp, left out of the COSE initiative, has been invited, and it says that it will send its X/Open representative as an observer.
Microsoft refuses to be phased by emergence of united Unix front
Tough talk? Officially, Microsoft Corp is greeting all this COSE business with a shrug of the shoulders. Accord
ing to unimpressed NT product manager Richard Greenberg, COSE will have no impact whatsoever on anything Microsoft is doing. Apparently Microsoft was concerned that the Unix camp might rally round the kernel, which he says would have been a much more powerful statement… a substantive agreement. However, the way it reads COSE, the Unix people are not saying they are going to unify and dismisses it as just a bunch of hype. Microsoft also maintains that it is focusing on interoperability and if something concrete eventually does come out of COSE, well that consolidation will just make it easier for Microsoft to interoperate with Unix. Besides which, Greenberg claims, anything COSE delivers is not going to make Microsoft less attractive. Greenberg also warns the Unix contingent not to try to hoist NT on same petard Microsoft is using against Unix. NT will not be fractured into a bunch of different versions simply because it’s run on different microprocessors. The company is moving literally to a single-code structure for iAPX-86, Alpha and R-series, and licensees are restricted from changing the code.
