The Novell deal isn't exactly a surprise, given the start-up's majority shareholder, NFT Ventures, the venture capital firm run by former Novell chairperson Ray Noorda.
Willows' yet-to-be announced software tools, libraries and emulator, targeted at software developers, let Microsoft Windows applications be ported to most of the major RISC- and Intel-based Unix operating systems now on the market. The twist is that the implementation doesn't rely on Microsoft application programming interfaces and, therefore, doesn't require that royalties be paid to Microsoft.
Novell officials confirmed that they are "counting on" the software to extend Novell's Windows-based AppWare to UnixWare. AppWare is the visual development tool used by Novell to let developers tap into NetWare and desktop services. UnixWare is Novell's bid for the application server market. At deadline, Steve Champion, director of business development for Willows, said the deal with Novell was down to "the lawyers running through the paperwork." It wasn't yet clear whether Novell simply wanted to use the porting software or subcontract the port to Saratoga, Calif.-based Willows, however.
Novell plans to extend AppWare to its nex
t-generation network operating system, SuperNOS, as well as to UnixWare. Novell officials say Willows' software, known as TWIN XPDK (Cross-Platform Development Kit), would let Novell use AppWare on Unix with "excellent" performance.
Ed Firmage, director of marketing for the NetWare Development Tools Group, says the advantage of the software is that "with little or no effort, you can take applications you already have in place and use them in a Unix context on the client or on the server."
Should MS Weep Over Willows?
Others point out that the software will help Novell's UnixWare, as well as other Unix servers, better compete with Microsoft's NT application server because Unix users will be able to run all their Unix applications, plus Windows applications. Champion says NT is unlikely to support all of a user's Unix applications because it is difficult to port all of them to NT, given the extensive nature of the Unix Application Programming Interface (API) set.
Champion, one of four Willows founders, says a key difference between Willows and other systems to port Windows applications to Unix is that it can take existing source code written to the Windows APIs and recompile it with little or no change by linking with the Willows libraries.
According to Champion, TWIN gets around the problem that many users and commercial application developers encounter when they try to port an application that contains third-party libraries, like a fax capability in an accounting app. Instead of requiring that the developer acquire the fax source code for the port, Champion says, "We allow the source code that has been ported to recompile that source code plus link in that Windows/Intel binary library." The binaries are supported by an emulator that runs on each Unix machine and executes them. The emulator only runs when native Windows binaries are used. When a port can be made from source code, the emulator isn't necessary.
Performance, of course, can be slower when emulation is needed to support
third-party add-ons. However, says Champion, this isn't always the case. Graphic screen processing performance may actually be faster than on Windows, says Champion. Other tasks, such as mapping CPU-bound functions to the native processor, will be slower. But Champion says that because the entire PC isn't emulated, performance is quite good.
Champion expects Fortune 1000 users to rely on the product to take a custom app written in Visual C and combine it with a third-party application. "We are the only company that allows them to link that binary in and reuse it on alternative platforms," he says.
Of course, Microsoft has its doubts. A spokesperson for Microsoft says, "We maintain it is not possible to do a credible job of emulating Windows without having access to the source code." She cites Sun's decision to go back and base WABI on Microsoft code as evidence. However, she says Microsoft, without yet seeing the product, has no legal problems with it.
A Healthy Start
Willows started its life with the name Multiport and financing from Technology Funding; it was renamed Willows in February. Along the way, it received further funding from NFT. According to Champion, the company is "extremely well funded" and is not looking for additional capital. The remainder of the company is employee owned. Rob Farnum, formerly of Hunter Systems and Unisys, is the president.
Champion says Willows expects to have no need for funding from NFT within six to eight months of product shipment and to be profitable within a year. Willows has also been in discussions with leading software vendors and the major Unix vendors. He added that one beta user with 500,000 lines of code had it up and running in three days using TWIN.
Future plans call for extending the current product--that was undergoing beta testing in March--to support Windows95- or NT-compatible products before the end of the year and OS/2 by the beginning of 1996. Because the software can run in 150 KB, Champion says it is also well suited for u
ses such as remote PDA displays--especially since it allows applications to be "decomposed" in such a way that different parts of the application can execute in different places.
Stirring Noorda's Caldera
Willow's TWIN technology is also being used at another Ray Noorda start-up, Caldera. Caldera's goal is to create commercial packaging for LINUX as a desktop operating system that will eventually run on Intel PCs, the Mac, the PowerPC and Unix RISC-based machines. That company was started after Novell CEO Bob Frankenberg's decision to concede the desktop to Microsoft."
"Caldera is using some of our technology to get people who write apps to port to that environment," says Champion. Recently at Brainshare, Novell President Bob Frankenberg said that Novell is interested in licensing Caldera, although an agreement had not yet been reached.
Willows on the Web
Champion says Willows plans to make its software "as pervasive as possible" by distributing copies from a home page on the World-Wide Web (http@www.willows.com). Developers will be able to use the software to get apps up and running at no charge, but in order to print or save, they'll need to obtain a key provided by the company. Champion said he expects the software to be priced at about $1,000 per year. He says that document updates will also be handled via the Internet.
Christine Hudgins-Bonafield can be reached at cbonafield@nwc.com. You can also
e-mail Christine directly
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