The Spec 1170 Unix initiative to meet the challenge of Microsoft Corp and the requirements of the demand side of the industry will be served up as Unix 95, clearly a foil to Windows95. X/Open Co Ltd has now attached names to its two Unix brands; Unix 93 is the interim brand and Unix 95, the ‘hard’ brand, or Spec 1170. To comply with Unix 93, an operating system must conform to X/Open’s XPG3 or XPG4 standards; comply with System V Interface Definition 2 or 3; include a Novell Inc licence; and move to ‘hard’ Unix branding within a year. Although it is not yet clear how firms will actually move from XPG to Unix 93, it provides vendors that do not comply with Spec 1170 with a way of gaining a Unix trademark. Although Unix 95, that is Spec 1170, is almost synonymous with XPG4, vendors will be able to retain their XPG4 colours without having to take the Unix 95 brand, which does not require a Novell licence, by choosing an option being made available under XPG4 version 2. With a Unix 95 brand, a vendor will also be able to pay for XPG4 Base version 2 branding. Re-branding for operating system revisions follows XPG4 guidelines. At issue, of course, is pricing, which should be available sometime next week and will probably be tiered at per-copy, per-user and per-site charges or some combination. X/Open will need to price the brand aggressively to attract adherents without undervaluing it. It has claimed that pricing has little to do with the fracas between Novell and Microsoft over royalty payments, in which X/Open is now also embroiled. It is unlikely any vendor or user would be able to stomach anything approaching 10% of the cost of the operating system itself, for instance. Meanwhile vendors of course will only abandon or alter product names if Unix 95 becomes an effective sales tool.
