The Foundation members meeting provided the first opportunity for members to see Architecture Neutral Distribution Format submissions actually running. Participants were required to run the software on the machine of their choice and on one other, to demonstrate portability. The four submissions included the UK’s Royal Signals & Radar Establishment running its submission on a DEC VAX and an 80386 machine, Hewlett-Packard Co and the University of Virginia on HP Precision Architecture and 80386, Siemens/Nixdorf on a 80386 machine and a DECstation 3100, and Peritus Inc on Sparc and MIPS machines. The decision whether or not to go ahead, according to the Foundation’s Director of Business Management Marie Burch, lies not so much with the technology – which works, according to the Foundation – but on commercial viability. Will the Software Foundation break even or make a profit on it? How will it be licensed? And will it be able effectively to take advantage of future architectures as they emerge? If the architecture-neutral project does get the nod, we should see the first snapshots very soon, with finished product by the end of next year.
