IBM has commissioned Steve Jobs’ new company, Next Inc, to create a user interface for IBM’s AIX implementation of Unix, according to Computerwoche. The West German weekly reports that Next began work on the task in April, and that a key feature of the implementation will be use of Adobe Systems’ Display PostScript screen description language. The aim of the effort is to provide IBM with an alternative to the Open Look user interface proposed for Unix by AT&T Co and Sun Microsystems Inc, but it could lead to squabbles in the Open Software Foundation alternative Unix club – which Adobe has joined. The Open Software standard is to be based on IBM’s AIX, but Hewlett-Packard Co had been led to believe that its NewWave user interface would be the one chosen. The story first surfaced in InfoWorld and caused Adobe Systems shares to jump by $2.75 to $43.50 late last week.
