IBM Reaffirms Relationship With Microsoft
Extends Licensing Arrangements
White Plains, N.Y. -- Sept. 19, 1990 -- IBM today reaffirmed its relationship with Microsoft and extended its licensing arrangements for DOS, Windows and OS/2. Also highlighted were a series of steps being taken to improve the efficiency and productivity of development efforts for DOS and OS/2.
Although both IBM and Microsoft will define requirements for these products, each company's development efforts will primarily focus on certain products, which will be licensed to the other company. In most cases, development efforts will be centralized in one location.
Concentrating development activities in single-site locations will increase overall development responsiveness, reduce development cycles, and enable streamlined migration and growth alternatives for users of DOS, Windows, and OS/2.
"Today's announcement clarifies the roles of both companies toward providing a range of operating platforms to meet the varied requirements of desktop customers," said James A. Cannavino, IBM vice president and general manager, Personal Systems. "By focusing IBM's development efforts is this manner, we are better able to achieve this goal."
In order to improve the efficiency of development efforts, IBM will have the primary role for developing 16-bit and 32-bit OS/2, with Microsoft making development contributions. Microsoft continues to develop Windows and will be the primary developer for DOS. Both companies intend to contribute to the development of a 32-bit version of OS/2 that is portable to other computer instruction sets, such as RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing). Microsoft will have the primary role of developing this portable version, with IBM making development contributions. All of these products will be cross-licensed by both companies.
IBM also reaffirmed its intention to reduce the entry requirements for OS/2 to 2 MB, to converge LAN Manager and LAN Server and to make the functions of OS/2 EE and LAN Server available to all IBM and OEM OS/2 users. In addition, IBM will begin delivering limited shipments of a 32 bit version of OS/2 to selected accounts in 1990, and the product will be generally available in 1991.
The range of desktop operating products licensed by both IBM and Microsoft continues to meet the needs of most users. DOS, with more than 20,000 applications, remains a significant platform for entry level systems with less than 1 MB of memory and will be enhanced over time.
Windows provides a graphical solution for users in a DOS environment. Designed for systems with 1 MB or more of memory, Windows works well for users of personal productivity applications. A typical system configuration for Windows would range between 2 and 4 MB.
As an advanced function operating platform, OS/2 offers full multitasking capabilities in a graphical environment. It is ideal for larger, more complex applications, such as mission critical and line-of-business applications and is recommended for servers. OS/2 is designed for systems with 2 MB or more of memory and typically runs in a 3 - 6 MB environment.
Contact: Tracy O'Neill
914/642-5412
Microsoft Corporation Chairman and CEO Bill Gates issued a statement in affirmation of today's announcement by IBM:
We are excited about IBM's announcement today reaffirming our relationship and outlining the expansion of our cross-license agreement for present and future versions of DOS, Windows and OS/2.
Together, IBM and Microsoft will provide a family of PC operating systems that is compatible and scalable from entry level PCs to high-end, advanced PC platforms.
Microsoft and IBM have played a key role in the development of the PC industry and we will continue to cooperate to provide the best operating system solutions to our customers.
Contact:
Marty Taucher/Microsoft
(206) 882-8080
Claire Lematta/TWG
(503) 245-0905