The common Unix desktop that represents the present manifestation of the Common Open Software Environment, COSE, is just a first step on the road to a much more comprehensive common Unix environment. The next two steps will be COSE II for networking, interoperability and distributed computing, and COSE III for systems management, and there is more where those are coming from. COSE was conceived by Hewlett-Packard Co and IBM Corp to meet the threat of Microsoft Corp’s Windows NT, and their Unified Unix plan aims to put together a cost structure for open operating environments that can match NT on the desktop. The other COSE firms were approached to support an effort that became bigger than Hewlett and IBM could handle alone. IBM and Hewlett-Packard decided – or were persuaded by independent software vendors – that a common kernel wasn’t a necessity for competing with NT – in Hewlett-Packard’s view, users don’t give a damn about the kernel anyway, they need application programming interfaces, says European computer systems marketing manager Bernard Guidon. Although inspired by the threat of NT, Guidon claims that COSE also grew out of pressure on Hewlett-Packard and IBM from large end users and independent software vendors demanding Unix standardisation. Guidon, who describes COSE (I) as the tactical execution of an agreed set of desktop strategies, says that COSE II and COSE III will follow because it just doesn’t make sense to unify the desktop if you don’t do the rest.
