Sister publication ClieNT Server News reports that Insignia Solutions Ltd has two internal projects to get Windows 3.1 and Windows95 running stand-alone on PowerPC processors without an intermediate Unix host. Microsoft Corp has always pooh-poohed the idea of converting its Windows for non-iAPX-86 systems, citing the lumps of iAPX-86 assembly code it contains. No surprise to find out that Insignia isn’t keen to comment on the projects, but the paper says their existence has been confirmed by sources both inside and outside of the company. The effort to run Windows 3.1 apparently goes by the code-name of Stringfellow, and it’s possible that the Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire company could have beta code as early as this summer. The Windows95 version (code-named Phantom) is due to follow in the first quarter of 1996. The paper reckons that Insignia was originally approached by IBM Corp to do the Phantom work. If the projects really exist, then to an extent they mark the logical evolution of Insignia’s existing work – whereas today, SoftWindows runs under a host operating system, whether Unix or Windows NT, StringFellow and Phantom will stand on their own. It’s the fact that Insignia has access to Windows source code that makes the effort possible, together with its still-in-development 80486 emulation. Is the development important? Yes, it will certainly add an extra string to the PowerPC bow, but no – it won’t be enough to enable them to compete, on its own, with Pentium and P6 boxes. Emulation always entails overheads, both in terms of performance and of memory overheads.
