No one at Digital Equipment Corp – or among the other ACE/Unix Labs negotiators for that matter – could lend credence last week to reports printed in Computer Systems News that DEC was drafting plans to propose VMS as yet another operating system for ACE: DEC has said, though not very publicly, that it would be willing to license VMS to other vendors; it also has project Alpha, its own RISC development effort designed for VMS; Alpha boxes, ranging from the desktop through to mainframe-class machines, are meant to supplant the VAX line over time, with the first due out next year, but the US trade weekly said that DEC is determining whether Alpha can be merged with the ACE architecture. a c e Just because ACE went for System V.4 doesn’t mean the Apache Group can now fold its tent and go home: also known as MIPS/Open, it is likely formally to reveal its existence and turn into an ACE special interest group with Unix Labs as a ring leader. a c e Besides picking up System V.4, ACE last week also expanded its spec to include a common install procedure and Silicon Graphics Inc’ three-dimensional graphics environment consisting of the Iris graphics library, ISO PHIGS and PEX as well as X11: it will pick up Posix 1003.4 when it is available. a c e Embracing System V.4 means ACE loses absolute binary compatibility: Compaq Computer Corp says the issue is technically solvable and suggests the repair effort will start this week; on the other hand, it is said that embracing System V.4 solves certain inconsistencies inside of ACE in the kernel and interface that could have become glaring; also according to Compaq the OSF/1 side of the house will have more work to do making the necessary accommodations to the new dual-kernel approach, such as incorporating System V.4 interfaces not in OSF/1 while Unix Labs will simply have to add four or five system calls; DEC says this is Santa Cruz’s problem, DEC having done its bit – but no one seems to think it will impact ACE’s timetable. a c e Unix Labs will not only make Unix System V.4/ES ACE-compliant but also Unix Lite for the desktop. a c e Compaq Computer says it hopes the new accommodation will have an impact on Unix camps outside the ACE Initiative – and it’s odd, isn’t it how it took a non-Unix company like Compaq to begin to heal the Unix breech: if there’s an unseen hand in this, his name is John Paul who was once seconded as development director; his tenure didn’t cloud his vision. a c e Obviously System V.4 in ACE threatens Santa Cruz Operation Inc position at least as far as being the sole source of Unix for ACE – its reaction to System V.4 generally continues to border on rabid and so it will apparently not be distributing the ACE System V.4 software; it didn’t give us a chance to ask, however, being the only company in this not to return our phone calls last week; it was also hard to tell what the Santa Cruz, California firm was thinking from the ACE press release since the canned quote from the company’s chief, Larry Michels, had no connection with the matter at hand.
