Microsoft, IBM Say LAN Man, LAN Server Will Converge
 
Copyright (c) 1989, McGraw-Hill, Inc.
LAS VEGAS (Microbytes Daily News Service) --- Microsoft's OS/2
LAN Manager and IBM's LAN Server are now in bed together, but
it's not yet clear which one is on top. Bill Gates, chairman of
Microsoft, and James Cannavino, vice president and general
manager of IBM's Personal Systems division, said at Comdex that
their companies' OS/2 LAN products would merge, and that the
functionality in IBM's OS/2 Extended Edition would become
available to all OS/2 users.
 
The companies are making this move, as Cannavino mentioned
earlier this week, to reduce confusion. "There have been a lot of
questions on `Will IBM and Microsoft converge?' and we wanted to
put the questioning aside forever," said Michael Murray, director
of Microsoft's network business unit.
 
However, the details on how and when this convergence will be
accomplished have not yet been worked out. While IBM's LAN Server
is based on LAN Manager technology and shares many features with
it, the two are not now completely compatible. LAN Server
supports about 140 of the 170 LAN Manager application programming
interfaces (APIs), and the Extended Edition is required for OS/2
clients. Moreover, some of the LAN Manager and LAN Server APIs
are mutually exclusive. While IBM's APIs in some cases offer more
functionality, software developers have already written products
using Microsoft's APIs.
 
"We're working with our ISVs [independent software vendors] and
customers to try to determine which APIs are required," said John
Soyring, manager of IBM's programming center in Austin, TX. "With
the shipment of LAN Server 1.2, we have gone a long way toward
convergence."
 
Novell, the major competitor in the PC LAN marketplace, professed
to be unconcerned by the move and praised it as good for the
industry. "That was our expectation from day one," said Darrell
Miller, Novell executive vice president.
 
                              --- Sharon Fisher
 
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