A 1994 San Jose, California start-up, Kovisoft Inc, is going to make a run at the likes of TriTeal Corp and other Common Desktop Environment developers with a slew of tools designed to run under any implementation of the Unix desktop. Kovisoft, also offering its own implementation of Novell Inc’s Common Desktop Environment source code as the Universal Desktop, said it will unveil more than 100 tools, all developed in-house, at Unix Expo in New York this month. As well as applications already offered by TriTeal and others, such as an HyperText Mark-up Language 2.0-based Web browser and facsimile software, Kovisoft president Ramana Kovi said the company will offer systems management, desktop publishing, imaging and technologies that should, by rights, have been included in Common Desktop Environment ages ago. Three developers have been working on the tools for the last two years and three marketing positions have been created to bring the software to market. Kovi said he doesn’t know if there’s room in the market for another Common Desktop implementation – its Universal Desktop 1.0 is up under HP-UX 9.0.5, UnixWare 2, SunOS 4.1.3, Sparc Solaris 2.4, and Solaris x86 2.4 – but it’s the tools that are strategic. Not only will they, Kovi claims, work atop all other Common Desktop implementations – although not on vanilla Motif or Open Look – but they will be launched along with half a dozen or so client-server tool suites the company has designed for the Internet, printing and other services. The company will go through resellers and sell direct. OEM negotiations with Common Desktop vendors broke down after three or four months following Kovisoft’s refusal to hand over future control of the product set, and disagreement over terms. Kovi – who maintains Common Desktop should never have taken so long to get only this far – said he’s not interested in acquiring or licensing third-party applications a la TriTeal, nor will the company be looking outside the Unix space for Windows-on-Unix-type offerings. It’s strictly appealing to the Unix shops. The Universal Desktop costs $260 on workstations until October 31 – $350 thereafter – or $700 for three licences, $2,000 for ten-packs (including Motif licences). Developer editions for creating Common Desktop Environment standards-compliant applications sell for $600.
