MIPS Computer Systems Inc, Sunnyvale, California is understood to be working on a strategy to bring binary compatibility to its workstation vendors, resolving one of its lingering liabilities, the absence of a standard operating system attractive to software developers that need high volume sales to justify their conversion costs. It is believed that MIPS vendors agreed to support a merged version of DEC’s Ultrix and MIPS’ own RISC/os fleshed out with some technology they themselves are contributing. It is this standard operating system, following DEC’s reversed byte order, that Compaq Computer Corp is expected to adopt for its initial MIPS products. It is also believed that Santa Cruz Operation Inc will be brought in to distribute the software and could wind up owning the interface for the MIPS architecture. The standardisation attempt, which understood to be both part of and yet separate from the Compaq-MIPS-Microsoft alliance – see page three – is perceived to be a necessity to such as Compaq whose whole rationale has been to follow software-rich standards. Although it is expected to take at least a year to do a fully functioning version of what will largely be Ultrix, it is still seen as an interim product eventually to be replaced by Microsoft’s NT – but that is not expected to be any more than vapourware until mid-decade.
