IBM has at last confirmed the widespread speculation that it will offer the NeXTStep user interface and applications development environment developed by NeXT Inc for use with its AIX Unix as an alternative to OSF/Motif. It will be offered with AIX on both the forthcoming RISC machines and on the PS/2s and IBM will support the same application programming interfaces as NextStep, providing compatibility and consistency so that developers can offer applications on both machines, resulting in a larger market for their efforts, IBM says. Adobe Systems, Informix, Ashton-Tate, Frame Technology, Lotus and WordPerfect were among those rushing to applaud the announcement.
