Back in 1993, OS/2 advocate Richard E. Hodges disagreed enough with a June 1993 Byte magazine article by John Udell "Windows, Windows Everywhere?" that he wrote a lengthy reply, and posted it widely; it was forwarded to comp.os.os2.misc, and said in part
--- snip --- To lure Independent Software Vendors, "Windows Everywhere" offers a kind of "magic dust" that will end their cross-platform support problems. Microsoft claims that Windows programs will run on any computer with nothing but a simple recompile. Windows programs will run under Unix through an emulator. "Wings" will let you recompile into a native Macintosh application. --- snip ---
Did Microsoft really talk up the idea of Unix being able to run Win32 apps via emulation on Unix, or was Hodges referring to things like Sun's WABI, which was announced in May '93? - Dan
p.s. the original message can be seen in two parts, May 31st or June 2 1993 (usenet was slow back then!), "A Letter to Byte Magazine", http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.os2.misc/msg/6180333e77f4a147 http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.os2.misc/msg/e31a54eb9a3e1389
And the WABI announcement seems to be at http://groups.google.com/group/comp.unix.questions/msg/b4a8e8fc829b2ab7
-- Wine for Windows ISVs: http://kegel.com/wine/isv
On 2/9/06, Dan Kegel dank@kegel.com wrote:
--- snip --- To lure Independent Software Vendors, "Windows Everywhere" offers a kind of "magic dust" that will end their cross-platform support problems. Microsoft claims that Windows programs will run on any computer with nothing but a simple recompile. Windows programs will run under Unix through an emulator. "Wings" will let you recompile into a native Macintosh application. --- snip ---
This could also be referring to the widespread belief at the time that NT would run on any platform. Any architecture, not any OS. Not sure, hard to say. I recall a lot of smoke and mirrors back then because MS didn't want to fully take the wraps off Windows 95 and were trying to misdirect competitors. (Which, back then they had quite a few more.)
-Brian
On 2/9/06, Dan Kegel dank@kegel.com wrote:
Did Microsoft really talk up the idea of Unix being able to run Win32 apps via emulation on Unix, or was Hodges referring to things like Sun's WABI
I dredged up the likely answer: http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.os2.advocacy/msg/35812882aa2e6afc contains the following tidbit:
--- snip --- [PC Week; March 1, 1993; Page 1, 16] SUN EMULATOR TO LINK UNIX, WINDOWS APPS By Amy Cortese ... Meanwhile, Microsoft is exploring its own ways to make the Windows API available on Unix. It has showcased Win/U software from Bristol Technology Inc., which allows ISVs to recompile their Windows applications to run on Unix. --- snip ---
So evidently Microsoft was pushing the "Windows Everywhere" vision using partners like Bristol and Mainsoft, who licensed Windows source code.
(Fun facts: MS used Mainsoft to port IE 4 to Solaris: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1998/feb98/unixpr.mspx This evidently let them get a big government contract. The MS IE for Unix homepage still exists, http://www.microsoft.com/unix/ie/ A nice history of the port is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_for_UNIX ) - Dan
-- Wine for Windows ISVs: http://kegel.com/wine/isv
Oooh, and let's not forget Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 for Mac! http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/en-us/dnarvc/html/msdn_mfcmac.asp
It included the "Windows Compatibility Libraries" (probably the same thing mentioned earlier as "Microsoft Wings"), "an implementation of the Windows API and architecture on the Macintosh. These libraries support most of the Windows API and will translate your Windows calls using either the appropriate Toolbox routines or native implementation."
So there you have it. Microsoft implemented Wine itself, more or less, for the Macintosh, back in '94-'95, and actually sold it as a product. (I almost picked up a copy of this at Half-Price Books in Bellevue, Wa in 1995 or so for $95, so I know it made it onto retail shelves...) - Dan
-- Wine for Windows ISVs: http://kegel.com/wine/isv
Am Donnerstag, 9. Februar 2006 20:33 schrieb Dan Kegel:
So evidently Microsoft was pushing the "Windows Everywhere" vision using partners like Bristol and Mainsoft, who licensed Windows source code.
(Fun facts: MS used Mainsoft to port IE 4 to Solaris: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1998/feb98/unixpr.mspx This evidently let them get a big government contract. The MS IE for Unix homepage still exists, http://www.microsoft.com/unix/ie/ A nice history of the port is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer_for_UNIX )
Mainsoft (the company that also, by mistake, leaked the Windows sources) still offers and supports IE, part of Mainwin, for UNIX and Linux. In fact, Softimage XSI for Linux, which uses Mainwin, comes with IE 5.0 or 5.5 (Linux native). XSI for IRIX also came with IE.
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Brian Vincent -
Dan Kegel -
Willie Sippel