SunSoft Inc won’t have a 64-bit Solaris implementation on its radar screen until the back-end of 1997 at the earliest, according to Solaris Products Group vice-president Steve McKay. The company reasons that with its 64-bit UltraSparc only just out of the blocks, the system will have to build up a head of steam before users and independent software vendors start to demand a 64-bit operating system in any case. McKay claims moving to 64-bits is technically straightforward, however the fact that Data General Corp’s 64-bit DG-UX Unix has been blessed for use with UltraSparc from mid-1996 and that Solaris was designed from the ground up with 32 bits in mind may indicate another perspective. Meantime, Solaris 2.6 will include support for file sizes larger than the 2Gb accommodated by Solaris 2.5 full Unix 95 (Spec 1170) compatibility and improved symmetric multiprocessing performance on iAPX-86 and PowerPC. SunSoft said that it is not worried about Digital Equipment Corp stalking its SunOS base with its FreePort for Digital Unix binary translation tool: Who wants an operating system with no applications? it asks.
