The trickle of companies deciding to try their luck in the Windows NT market is turning into a flood, and the latest to diversify from the Unix camp is Pick Systems Inc. It has been Pick-under-Unix ever since the Irvine, California company left its proprietary days behind it. Pick’s D3 NT database will be launched next quarter and demonstrated at DB Expo in New York on December 1. Until now it has been available under AIX, DG/UX, Santa Cruz Unix and HP-UX. Chief information officer Denis Hill said the NT product will be the flagship. It’s a ground-up fully object-oriented re-write of the Pick database, and the company has extended Visual Basic to do string handling rather than use the Pick-written scripts as before, according to Hill. The reason for NT over Unix? A better file system, according to Hill. He said the new features in the NT version will be folded back into the Unix database starting next year. Hill dismissed rumors that the late Dick Pick’s children were looking to sell the company to cover the costs of inheritance tax and make a little bit besides. He said it had been an issue, but was now resolved: That’s under control, he said. The company is always up for sale at the right price, he said, and has had approaches, but the family is not actively looking for a buyer.
