Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems Inc are regarded as potentially big losers from the developing alliance between Microsoft Corp, MIPS Computer Systems Inc, Compaq Computer Corp and their acolytes, and it begins to look as if the two reckon that there is strength in numbers, despite the fact that they belong to opposing Unix camps. Hewlett-Packard is particularly exposed because its NewWave object-oriented environment runs on top of Microsoft Windows, but has not yet garnered many applications, and Microsoft has been telling developers that Windows 4.0 will have similar object-oriented features to NewWave, a pre-announcement that is likely to cause those developing NewWave applications to stay their hands. Last week, Hewlett-Packard arranged to make a third of its major software products, the Visual User Environment, available on Sun workstations (CI No 1,618) and today, Sun and Hewlett are scheduled to share a platform to reveal that they are to team on the development of a Distributed Object Management Facility to respond to an Object Management Group Request for Technology.
