Dec 91 Letters
Volume Number: 7
Issue Number: 12
Column Tag: Letters
New Era or New Hassles
By Kirk Chase, Editor
Announcements From Apple/IBM
A number of announcements came out October 2nd covering the Apple/IBM
alliance. This alliance has the possiblity of allowing multiple OS emulation that meet
certain, minimal hardware standards (PowerPC, Motorola 680X0, and Intel's 80X86
chips for now). For those who don't get the press releases, here they are below:
Apple/IBM Finalize PC Alliance
Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a
series of comprehensive agreements that will propel the personal computer industry
into a new era.
The historic agreements, in which Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) will play a key
technology role, cover a range of hardware and software initiatives and follow the
terms of the companies’ letter of intent announced three months ago.
For customers, the benefits of the alliance will begin in the near future with
Macintosh computers communicating even more readily in large-system networks.
These agreements then will extend the benefits of IBM RISC and Macintosh technologies
across a broader range of open- systems platforms. And longer term, Apple and IBM
have formed two software joint ventures that will create exciting new capabilities,
make computers easier to use, and make computer programming simpler and much
faster.
For the industry, these initiatives will expand business opportunities for
developers and other vendors while accelerating the pace of technology creation. And
while IBM and Apple will work together to cultivate these opportunities, they will
continue to compete unrelentingly with their own systems.
“These agreements are the foundation for a renaissance,” said John Sculley,
Apple’s chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re dramatically expanding
customers’ choices while lowering their risks when buying computers. We’re making
open systems even more powerful and easier to use. And we’re building new foundation
technologies that will be a framework for innovation across a vast array of
industries.”
John F. Akers, chairman of IBM, said, “The second decade of personal computing
begins today. Increasingly, systems software and semiconductor technology are defining
where essential value is added to computers. With this alliance, Apple and IBM are
drawing on their strengths and those of Motorola to continue setting the pace for our
customers.”
George Fisher, chairman and chief executive officer of Motorola, added, “These
agreements combine the unique talents of three great companies to create a powerful
new computing platform. Motorola is proud to invest its microprocessor design and
manufacturing leadership in this seminal undertaking.”
The alliance consists of five distinct technology initiatives. Three expand the
companies’ current technologies. Two focus on the creation of new foundation
technologies.
Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, A/UX are registered trademarks of Apple
Computer Inc. OS/2 and AIX are registered trademarks of International Business
Machines Corp. RISC System/6000, PowerOpen, and PowerPC are trademarks of
International Business Machines Corp. UNIX is a registered trademark of UNIX System
Laboratories.
CONTACT: Christopher Escher of Apple Computer Inc., 408-974-2202; or Paul
Bergevin of IBM, 914-765-6630; or Ken Phillips of Motorola Inc., 602-952-3637.
Apple/IBM Joint System Software Company
Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the
formation of a new software company they believe will be instrumental in creating the
next generation of computers for the mid to late 1990s.
The new company will be jointly owned by Apple and IBM, yet will operate
independently so it can meet the needs of the broad industry and customer
constituencies.
The joint venture will develop and license an entirely new genre of system
software that greatly simplifies computer programming and allows much easier
customization of software programs.
The new company’s system will be based entirely on object-oriented technology,
a process that greatly simplifies software creation employing reusable building blocks
of programming code.
In contrast to current operating systems, which offer object-oriented layers,
the joint venture’s technology is being designed from the ground up as a full
object-oriented operating environment. This means developers can realize the full
potential of object-oriented technology without the programming constraints of
operating systems on the market today.
The new company’s technology will be used separately by both Apple and IBM as
the core of new products expected in the mid-1990s. New products based on the joint
venture’s technology will operate in parallel to, and complement the evolution of,
Apple’s and IBM’s existing product lines, (Macintosh, OS/2 and AIX).
Each company plans to offer compatibility between future joint venture products
and their current products, allowing users to leverage their current investments in
software.
According to the companies, the joint venture company is structured to
encourage widespread industry adoption of this operating system platform, providing
customers with a vast array of exciting new applications and capabilities.
The new company will openly license its software technology to other system
vendors, thereby broadening its availability. The operating environment is planned to
be “platform independent”, meaning it will work on many different kinds of hardware
platforms, such as IBM’s RISC Power architecture, Motorola’s 680X0, and Intel’s
80X86.
“The next major era of computing must focus on meeting the needs of the
developer. Object-oriented technology is the driving force behind this shift, and the
new company is well on the way to delivering the solution,” said John Sculley, Apple’s
chairman and chief executive officer.
CONTACT: Brooke Cohan of Apple Computer Inc., (408) 974-3019; or David
Harrah of IBM, (914) 642-5455.
Apple/IBM Multimedia Venture
Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) today
announced the formation of an independent, joint venture company that will catalyze the
development of exciting new multimedia technologies and products.
The new company will develop, license, and make available specifications and
technologies to promote the exchange of information such as sound, graphics, video,
text, and animation across a variety of computing and consumer electronic devices.
The joint venture company intends to license its future specifications to those
companies developing multimedia products, including Apple and IBM. Apple and IBM
will continue to independently develop and market their own multimedia products. Both
companies expect that the technologies and products offered from the joint venture will
enhance Apple’s and IBM’s future multimedia efforts.
Among other activities, the new venture will develop and promote data formats -
that are independent of the computer system used-in order to allow developers to
concentrate on multimedia applications that will play on a wide variety of platforms
from many different vendors.
“We believe that multimedia technology will be the cornerstone for the next
generation of computing,” said Dr. David Nagel, vice president of Apple’s advanced
technology group and acting general manager of Apple’s consumer products division.
“Animation, video, and sound will proliferate throughout new interactive
applications in much the same way as graphics and text do today. The new company will
provide a basis of technology for the industry to build upon and will prove to be a
springboard for exciting new developer innovations across the education, business,
home, and entertainment markets.”
“Through this joint venture, IBM and Apple will contribute their experience in
multimedia computing to aid the growth of this rapidly changing field,” said Lucie
Fjeldstad, IBM vice president and president of the Multimedia and Education Division.
“With this organization, we will be able to more quickly and cost-effectively
deliver platform-independent multimedia technologies that will enable multimedia
content providers to thrive.”
Apple and IBM will contribute resources, as well as license their multimedia
technology to the new venture. The new venture’s board of directors will be composed
of an equal number of Apple and IBM representatives and will name the company’s
executive staff at a later date. The new company will be headquartered in the San
Francisco Bay Area.
CONTACT: Patty Tulloch of Apple Computer Inc., (408) 974-5449; or Jim
Keller of IBM, (914) 642-5472.
Apple/IBM Open-Systems Platform
Apple Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) today
announced a software licensing agreement that will allow for the establishment of
PowerOpen, an open- systems environment that will provide customers and developers
an easy-to-use, standards-based, high-performance platform.
A future release of IBM’s standards-based AIX operating system, based on the
Open Software Foundation’s OSF/1 operating system, will be combined with the
world-class, easy-to-use Macintosh interface provided by Apple’s UNIX offering A/UX.
elopers an easy-to-use, standards-based, high-performance platform.
This new operating system will run on the Power (Performance Optimization
with Enhanced RISC) architecture, as well as the PowerPC architecture announced today
by Apple, IBM, and Motorola.
The PowerOpen technologies will be licensed to other vendors. Apple and IBM
each will use PowerOpen in future versions of their respective UNIX implementations,
A/UX and AIX.
Both Apple’s and IBM’s RISC hardware lines will support the PowerOpen
environment, giving customers access to the broadest set of applications on any
UNIX-based open- systems platform, including the thousands of AIX and Macintosh
applications.
The new PowerOpen environment will provide customers with a highly scalable,
standards-based, open- systems architecture ranging from desktop personal computers
to very large network servers. Customers will have the choice of acquiring the
Macintosh user interface, as well as the OSF/Motif interface, from both Apple and IBM.
Additionally, customers will be able to preserve their application investments
as current AIX, A/UX, and Macintosh applications will be supported in the PowerOpen
environment.
The PowerOpen environment combines the best of both companies’ current UNIX
products. It makes use of the new PowerPC hardware, which is an architecture based on
IBM’s acclaimed RISC System/6000 and IBM’s powerful AIX operating system.
In addition, Apple’s A/UX provides an easy-to-use, integrated Macintosh UNIX
solution. Apple and IBM each plan to make their PowerOpen products conform to major
industry standards, such as POSIX and X/Open.
Software developers will benefit from the new high-volume business
opportunity offered them by the PowerOpen environment. Application developers will
benefit from access to both A/UX and AIX on a single hardware platform with no need to
recompile. In-house developers will benefit from the support of both companies and the
wealth of development tools available.
CONTACT: Jackie Promes of Apple Computer Inc., (408) 974-3609; or Judy
Radlinsky of IBM, (914) 642-4634.