IBM Corp has licensed the skinny JavaOS operating system from Sun Microsystems Inc’s JavaSoft Inc subsidiary for its network computers and will be able re-license to it other vendors under the agreement. It has also picked up the HotJava browser-based software to develop Java applications, though it would not give any details of those plans yesterday. It is evaluating a bunch of other HotJava technologies such as HotJava Views groupware that it may or may not use depending on how its other NC options turn out, including the Navio client software from the Netscape Communications Corp subsidiary of the same name and the Java- based groupware components the Lotus Notes division is creating. The re-licensing will be done by IBM Microelectronics, selling boards running JavaOS to OEM customers. IBM had been using an operating system written by Network Computing Devices Inc – on its network computer OEMed from NCD – but will now use JavaOS in all its NCs, of which there are three: the NCD-manufactured PowerPC 403-based device, a PowerPC 603e-based reference board and an unnamed Intel Corp-based device, though it’s not clear yet whether this will emerge as a board or a fully-fledged machine. This implies IBM will port JavaOS to at least PowerPC and Intel instruction sets. IBM will supposedly show all three devices at Comdex this month. IBM is setting up a Java marketing office over the road from JavaSoft with about half a dozen people, and may mirror that on the East Coast if it’s deemed necessary. Oh, and JavaSoft’s working up a complete Java branding program that it doesn’t want to tell anyone about yet.
