shap@polya.Stanford.EDU (Jonathan S. Shapiro) (10/17/88)
In article <7501@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> ajdenner@athena.mit.edu (Alexander J Denner) writes: >IBM may use NeXT Step, but I would not count on it. IBM has a history >of licensing and/or buying any technology or software they may someday >think about using. For OSF, IBM has licensed or considered using: Next, >Presentation Manager (what!), X Windows, HP (whatever they call their new >windowing system), and others. To my knowledge, none of them have been >given any special attention. In fact, chances are IBM may not even accept >any of the systems above and write or contract a new one. Well, that sounds reasonable on the face of it, but it isn't. True enough, IBM has licensed lots of things they have never used, and true enough in a free world IBM would likely contract the problem out. Recall however, that the OSF solution has to be agreed on not only by IBM, but by DEC, HP, Apollo, and others. Since all of the other vendors currently have software ready, and since OSF is in fact evaluating the interface question even as we speak, it is highly unlikely that IBM will have the option of contracting this one out. Rumor has it that IBM may have demoed NeXT Step on an RT for the interface meeting. I have heard this from enough sources that it is worth posting. Jon