Now that it accepts that it is on its way to Novell Inc, Unix System Laboratories Inc’s agenda has had to change radically because Novell is believed to be determined to end the division of the Unix world into rival camps. In what would be good news for the Unix community, albeit very bad news for Paris-based Chorus Systemes SA, Roel Pieper, president and chief executive of Unix Labs, told Computer Reseller News that he has been discussing the possibility of putting all or part of the Open Software Foundation’s Mach 3 microkernel under Unix System V. He added that Unix Labs had not yet decided whether or not to abandon the Chorus microkernel and Unix Labs later poured cool water on the story, saying that there have been internal discussions of someday perhaps blending Software Foundation and Unix Labs technologies, but that it is currently not part of any startegy on paper or on any timeline. It is also pointing out that the microkernel-based version of Unix System V is not due before 1994 or 1995. At the same time, once Novell owns the company, Unix Labs may propose but it will be Novell that disposes, and if it is serious about signing a final peace treaty in the Unix Wars, the agenda at Unix Labs would quickly change. IBM has already decided to adopt Mach 3 to go under not only AIX Unix, but also under OS/2 with its Workplace Shell, and under the Taligent operating system it is developing with Apple Computer Inc, and demonstrated OS/2, AIX, Windows and MS-DOS applications running on the microkernel at Comdex/Fall. A move to the Mach 3 microkernel by Unix Labs would mean that UnixWare and the various implementations of Unix System V would run native on the IBM Corp RS/6000 and PowerPC and Digital Equipment Corp’s Alpha, on IBM mainframes, and on the machines of all other vendors voting the Open Software Foundation ticket. The Software Foundation added fuel to the fire by advising the US trade weekly that it is very close to Novell.
