DEC is set to become the first vendor to come out with a release of the OSF/1 Unix variant today. Described as an early release for developers by UK open systems marketing manager Janette Hewitt, the software will pave the way for the next major release of Ultrix, expected in mid-1992, which will mark DEC’s full transition to OSF/1 technology on its RISC-based systems. One reason for DEC’s lead is that the Open Software Foundation used a DEC workstation as the reference machine for the OSF/1 operating system implementation. Observers doubt that DEC will ever migrate its Ultrix implementation for the VAX to full OSF/1 compatibility ahead of its RISC-based successor.
