Concerning a rumor about AIX and OSF/1

[Dick Dunn]

jeg at zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (John E. Girard) writes:
> I have heard a rumor that claims IBM is considering dropping
> AIX version 3 in favor of OSF/1, which may be related to the 
> AT&T/OSF falling out that has been in the press.
> 
> Is there anyone who has more information on the subject?

Yes, IBM has said that, and it is related to the OSF/UI fallout. 
Actually, IBM said rather more than "considering".  The statements came
out in a press release from OSF, the obligatory "show of unity" after the
merger discussion ended.  Each vendor provided a couple of pages.  In
addition, the trade press reported some additional statements about the
timing of OSF/1 for the various hardware platforms currently running
AIX-named systems.

The heading on the IBM release is
	IBM Expands Financial Support of OSF;
	Confirms Commitment to Ship OSF/1

Some excerpts and [my observations]:

...IBM said it intends to ship future AIX offerings based on the OSF/1
operating system.
	[So don't worry--it may be different inside, but it'll still be
	*called* AIX:-]

[There's the obligatory quoting of the OSF sacred chant, "open, vendor
neutral selection process."]

...The company intends to provide its first implementation of the OSF/1
operating system on its PS/2 platform in 1991.
	[Trade-rag info said that this meant the PS/2 will get the 1.2
	release of AIX, which is not the v3 flavor, and then go on to
	OSF/1 without ever releasing AIXv3 on that hardware.]

...The company will confirm its plans in the third quarter of 1990.
	[How much do you want to read into this?  The headline says
	"confirms commitment" but then they say they'll confirm (re-
	confirm?:-) in 3Q90.  Probably just hedging bets.]

--end of excerpts--

Other trade-rag items quote IBM spokesfolks as saying that the PS/2 comes
first and the RS/6000 will come later on because they've got their plate
full right now just getting the first release out the door.  That makes
sense, as far as not switching the OS right now, but I'm still puzzled by
the idea of selling a machine with the promise of changing the OS in a year
or so.  (Yeah, I know, careful attention to full compatibility will solve
all that.:-)

What does this mean about the 370? (I dunno)  about TCF? (I dunno)

It's interesting.  Bizarre, but interesting...
-- 
Dick Dunn     rcd at ico.isc.com    uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd     (303)449-2870
   ...Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it's been.