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. ÒI enjoyed it,Ó said Hey. ÒIt was especially interesting seeing what the other panelists said.Ó 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 MicrosoftÕs Windows 95 and Windows NT 3.51 mentioned by several respondents. One respondent suggested that Windows 95 might be a candidate for the best ÒopenÓ 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 SunÕs 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, IBMÕs AIX 4.1 operating system, TriTealÕs Common Desktop Environment (CDE) and The Santa Cruz OperationÕs (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 marketsÑassuming 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, ÒIf you donÕt have an Internet address at this point, you donÕt live in the Valley.Ó Some UniForum members felt that after the initial introduction to the Internet, many users might find Òa fair amount of what goes on to be boring.Ó 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 MicrosoftÕs 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 MicrosoftÕs domination of this market was already taking place. They pointed out that Unix is still perceived as being more for Òsystem gurusÓ and that Unix standards still havenÕt 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. ÒAs a systems administrator, I have always found System V to be less usable than the Berkeley derivatives.Ó 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: ÒOperating 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.Ó u