Kicking off the next round of skirmishing between Unix International and the Open Software Foundation, Unix International this week will play up the fact that Unix System V.4 is actually shipping in volume despite insinuations from the Open Software Foundation and its hangers-on to the contrary. Unix International has polled the market and will publish a list of 323 vendors that either are, or will be shipping System V.4 products by the end of the year. The audit includes all of Unix International’s principal members, 75% of its general members and a number of firms outside the pale. Geographically thay break down into 144 US companies, 158 European companies and 21 Asian firms described by Unix International as the bulk of the Asia-Pacific open systems vendors. Unix International reckons it has more than two-thirds of the major players worlwide and a strong following among the independent software vendors that are converting their software to Unix. The salvo, which attempts to draw attention to the fact that it will still be some time before any OSF/1 implementation reaches a paying end-user, implies that the AT&T-Unix International camp believes it has effectively won the battle of the operating systems.
