Hewlett-Packard Co is expected to take a 20% stake in the IBM Corp-Apple Computer Inc Taligent joint venture to seal a deal under which it is working with IBM on a standard for desktop Unix using IBM’s Common User Access specification and dubbed COSI, or Common Operating System Interface. Other Unix suppliers are said to be treating the IBM-Hewlett-Packard effort very cautiously – some are worried that it may turn out to be a Trojan horse for proprietary technologies. The suggestion is that COSI will pick upon the work of Taligent Inc, the object-oriented operating software joint venture. However, sources say IBM has been making Taligent’s life a misery lately, by insisting that Taligent use its Distributed System Object Model – a general purpose mechanism for communicating between objects based on the OS/2 2.0 Workplace Shell, also up on AIX. The technology is regarded as regressive by Taligent staff, and IBM’s insistence is said to have convinced several key employees to quit. However, as recently as last week, IBM is said to have realised that its shell technology does not comply with the Object Management Group Common Object Request Broker specifications and has been urging Hewlett-Packard to throw its Object Group-compliant Distributed Object Management Facility into the pot. This facility is Hewlett-Packard’s object technology, which grew out of its joint software development project with Sun Microsystems Inc, and which seems to have gone very cool of late. IBM top brass is said to have been meeting with Hewlett-Packard officials at various locations around the US over the last few days to lobby for their support and an announcement may now be imminent.
