Sun Micosystems, as expected, delineated its migration to Unix System V.4 last week with a software developers programme it has blessed with the tag SunOS/System V.4 Development and Test platform. Sun’s embrace of source code compatibility with System V.4 will only be for its Sparc boxes, the Sparcstation 1, 1+ and IPC. Its older Motorola 68000 family line with an installed base of between 150,000 and 180,000 machines worldwide will not move up although they will be able to integrate into System V.4 networks and Sun’s Open Network Computing. The development schema Sun announced last week for availability in December is a suite of products designed to help independent software vendors to run native mode on what will be called SunOS/System V.4 when the end-user product goes onto the market late next year. The suite is priced at $5,900 – discountable – and includes a SunOS 4.1 CD-ROM development environment, verification applications and a binary compatibility package, a transition tool to let end users run existing software while migrating to System V.4. The price also includes documentation, 12 months’ support and upgrades.
