Open Systems Year in Review
Panelists and UniForum Members Pick the Best and Worst of 1995
The open-systems special interest group sponsored by the UniForum
Association and the Software Forum gathered on Jan. 19 at Amdahl, Inc.
in Santa Clara, CA, to review the highlights of open systems technology
for 1995. This special, year-end meeting featured a panel made up of
Andrew Binstock, editor-in-chief of Unix Review, of San Mateo,
CA; Angela Hey, client/server program manager at Input Software in Santa
Clara, CA; Philip Johnson, director of advanced operating environments
at International Data Corp. in Mountain View, CA; and Steve Liebes,
director of marketing and business development for UniForum.
A series of questions presented by George Bosworth, the moderator,
formed the basis for a round-robin discussion by the panelists. E-mail
responses to these questions received from UniForum members were also
shared at the meeting. "I enjoyed it," said Hey. "It was especially
interesting seeing what the other panelists said."
Below are the questions and responses gathered from the meeting
participants and from the member survey.
What are your favorite two open systems products released in 1995?
This question elicited the broadest range of opinions. Over 44 percent
of the member responses were for Java and Netscape products.
Interestingly, Redmond, WA was the source of many nominees, with
Microsoft's Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51 mentioned by several
respondents. One respondent suggested that Windows 95 might be a
candidate for the best "open" product simply because of the volume sold.
In addition to Java, other Sun products were mentioned, including Sun
Solstice Network Manager, release 2.5 of the Solaris operating system
and Sun's new Ultra family of high-end workstations.
The Linux operating system was also popular, being mentioned several
times in the number-one rank. Other favorites included the latest
release of the e-mail application Eudora, Nextstep operating system
products, Tcl/Tk language and toolkit, IBM's AIX 4.1 operating system,
TriTeal's Common Desktop Environment (CDE) and The Santa Cruz
Operation's (SCO) TermVision.
Who did the most for open systems in 1995? Who did the least?
For who did the most, candidates included Netscape, Unix system vendors
in general, the Linux community, Sun Microsystems (for Java),
Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Digital Equipment Corp. One respondent from
Corte Madera, CA, nominated Novell as who did the most for selling
UnixWare and the Unix source code to SCO, and the least for their track
record with Unix before they sold it. According to most respondents, the
answer for who did the least was an easy one: Microsoft.
What will the Internet become in two to four years?
Most respondents said it would be a much more technically mature place,
where nontechnical people who need information can find it easily. Many
predicted that online banking will take off if costs can be kept on a
par with bank-by-phone services. Corporations might use the Internet as
a wide-area network for client/server systems. Electronic commerce will
grow, both for business-to-consumer and business-to-business
markets--assuming the security problems are worked out.
Everyone agreed that the Internet would continue to be a major force,
becoming the most important change in media since television and radio.
As Johnson said of Silicon Valley, "If you don't have an Internet
address at this point, you don't live in the Valley."
Some UniForum members felt that after the initial introduction to the
Internet, many users might find "a fair amount of what goes on to be
boring." Other members, as well as some panelists, mentioned the growing
costs of maintaining the Internet and questioned whether the government
would or could continue to subsidize its operation.
How successfully and how soon will Windows NT bite into the high-end,
Unix/RDMS server business?
Some panelists (such as Binstock) said that Microsoft might take over
parts of the server market, but the process would be a slow one. Many
members were even less sure about Microsoft's prospects. Many pointed
out that Microsoft has always been successful in the high-volume, low
end of the marketplace, and they were unsure whether Microsoft was ready
and able to develop mission-critical applications.
As always, there were other respondents who took the opposite view,
declaring that Microsoft's domination of this market was already taking
place. They pointed out that Unix is still perceived as being more for
"system gurus" and that Unix standards still haven't been finalized.
How do you feel about Unix standardization?
Members and panelists were frustrated that Unix standardization was
still a work-in-progress. However, they felt that if the Common Document
Task Force of X/Open is successful, it may be a big step toward Unix
standardization.
What opportunities stand out for open systems product development?
What is missing?
Respondents mentioned that they would like to see better network
management tools that connect Unix and Windows NT platforms. Also
mentioned were more database development tools and more support for
Linux-based products.
What is the situation with Unix System V, now that it has moved from
AT&T to Novell to SCO (and HP)?
One member said that the move weakened an already poorly accepted
standard. "As a systems administrator, I have always found System V to
be less usable than the Berkeley derivatives." Other members pointed out
that Motorola has moved from System V to AIX and Windows NT for their
system products, while IBM, DEC and HP have never showed much interest
in System V.
As a final note, one member replied: "Operating systems will be less
important in the new computation environment... What kind of network
support, what kind of distributed object standards and what kind of
graphical user interface environment are the things people will see and
use."