Apple Computer Inc, previously expected to launch its own Unix server hardware sometime early next year, is reviewing its entire Unix strategy. It also seems unlikely that the company will renew its principal membership of the PowerOpen Association. Jim Groff, vice-president and general manager of Apple’s business systems division said we are actively evaluating our Unix and Unix-on-Mac game-plan in the light of [the new common PowerPC hardware architecture] announcement. Apple is, he said, talking to its customers to try and decide whether it is worth producing a Unix server next year, or whether it should simply wait for the common system in 1996. It is absolutely right that the new common PowerPC standard development should impact our plans in the Unix arena, said Groff. Groff is adamant that Apple is still committed to using AIX as the base of its server offering. But when asked whether Apple intended to remain a member of the PowerOpen Association he simply said: I’m not going to comment on that – some things have changed. However, Apple has not paid its PowerOpen membership fees and there are no signs that it will. Basically, Groff agreed that one of Apple’s biggest interests in PowerOpen was the need to build Macintosh Application Services which would run Macintosh Applications on top of the PowerOpen environment (effectively AIX, today). The chances of Mac Application Services ever seeing the light of day look very slim today; no one is saying that it will appear and Groff pointed out that the Common Platform, with its ability to run multiple operating systems, virtually obviates the need for them. Previously Apple had been committed to building its own server hardware, but Groff says that the standard makes the make versus buy-in question a more open one. Though Groff pointed to the new common standard as the most important factor in the change of tack, there is ample evidence that Apple’s second thoughts over PowerOpen membership and its general Unix strategy date back to before the arrival of the standard on the scene. In the summer our sister publication Unigram.X was reporting Apple’s indecision over PowerOpen funding and we talked about its doubts over Mac Application Services at around the same time. Today, there are rumours both within Apple and from sources allied to PowerOpen that the future of AIX at Apple is in doubt, with Apple still locked in licensing negotiations with IBM Corp. It is a suggestion that Groff denied, pointing out that the two have been working closely on Apple’s AIX usage since the original PowerPC pact was signed.
