The many users of Nixdorf Computer AG’s Comet business software package have added their weight to that of the newly-formed Nixdorf user pressure group in the effort to safeguard their interests in the wake of the takeover by Siemens AG. Computerwoche reports that Comet users and application developers made their presence heavily felt at a meeting of the Interessenvereinigung der Nixdorf-Anwender – the group that recently asserted that it would resort to confrontational tactics to get its way – and were duly awarded with an assurance from Siemens’ systems planning manager Rudolf Boto that the future Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme had no intention of leaving the 60,000 Comet installations in the lurch. The Comet users fears arise from the belief that the Nixdorf 8870 computer and its Quattro successor – the two machines on which Comet is predominantly installed – are to be phased out with no migration path offered. Confirming the official line – and simultaneously confirming fears of an 8870/Quattro phase-out – Boto replied by stating that both the Nixdorf Targon and Siemens MX Unix ranges would continue until a joint Targon-MX successor was developed, and that Siemens-Nixdorf was commmitted to offering both as upgrade paths to Unix for Comet users. But, despite its resolve to hold on fast to its Comet user base, it appears that Siemens-Nixdorf may still lose out if the 8870/Quattro hardware is phased out. Nixdorf marketing director Rudolf Grger made it clear at the meeting that Comet users would only be offered the choice between Siemens MX and Nixdorf Targon – and that even if it were technically possible to run the package on another vendor’s hardware, Siemens-Nixdorf would view this as a breach of the software licence. However, computer law experts are convinced that a court would disagree. The consensus is that European Commission thinking on software licensing is based around the dual concept of making sure that the software originator is fairly rewarded, while still laying great stress on ensuring interoperability – in practice, this means that unless practically insurmountable technical problems exist in converting a piece of software to run on another system, a supplier cannot specify in the software licence that the package run exclusively on one type of hardware. This effectively means that, come the phasing out of the 8870/Quattro hardware, the 60,000 Comet installations will be up for grabs by any number of Unix suppliers able to cash in on Comet users’ mistrust and disaffection for proprietary systems, and particularly of Nixdorf. Mindful of this eventuality, representatives of Siemens-Nixdorf have tentatively put forward two possible migration paths for Comet users. The first would have Comet run on a Targon or MX using the Cross-Basic Business Basic interpreter, the C programming language and the Informix relational database – this partial Unix set-up would be available by the autumn. Siemens system planner Bodo reckons, however, that work is already ahead on a version of Comet labelled Alexander – that could run on any Unix system, and that this option will be ready mid-1991. Nonetheless, despite repeated questions from the floor at the user meeting, Nixdorf marketer Grger would have nothing of this second option, insisting on the non-portability of Comet to the generality of Unix sustems.
