IBM Corp has quietly invited Sun Microsystems Inc to join Taligent Inc, its joint venture with Apple Computer Inc to develop an object oriented operating system, according to the New York Times, which quotes industry executives who did not want their names publicly attached to such preliminary discussions. Officially, both sides are declining comment or denying knowledge of any talks. Sun is already working on its own object-oriented operating system under the code-name Spring, and the importance it attaches to object-oriented technology is underlined by the fact that it paid $10m for a licence to NeXT Inc’s object-oriented NeXTStep environment, only later deciding against using it. The call to Sun is seen as a further effort to bolster the opposition lining up against Microsoft Corp’s Windows New Technology operating system. The Times also reports people close to Taligent saying that several companies have applied to join, and that Taligent had approached others requesting key technologies.
