SAN MATEO (11-04-95) - Having taken over the development of the Windows version of OpenDoc from Novell Inc., IBM must now overcome the doubts of developers to prove it can win the loyalty of Windows developers.
In an effort to do that, the company this week announced a new delivery plan and altered the role of the OpenDoc alliance's umbrella organization, Component Integration Laboratories Inc.
IBM plans to deliver a beta of the software developer's kit (SDK) for the Windows 95 and Windows NT versions of the OpenDoc component development architecture in the second quarter of next year, with final delivery slated for the third quarter. Apple Computer Inc., meanwhile, will ship the OpenDoc SDK for the Mac next week.
IBM's increased role in OpenDoc development leaves CI Labs to concentrate on its role as purveyor of the OpenDoc specification and to begin offering validation and branding services for OpenDoc parts. CI Labs will also begin to promote OpenDoc as a component architecture for Internet applications to compete with SunSoft Inc.'s Java Internet development language, officials said.
Bruce Cleveland, formerly Apple's senior director of object technology, will head up this transition, having taken over from Jed Harris as CI Labs president.
But industry observers question whether IBM can convince Windows developers to fight under the OpenDoc banner against Microsoft Corp.'s OLE.
"The issue has nothing to do with distributed capability or anything technical," said David Smith, analyst at Gartner Group Inc., in Stamford, Conn. "It has to do with marketing and ISV support and a clear and unifying marketing strategy from IBM, which we haven't seen yet."
The real fight might come when IBM releases the distributed version of OpenDoc. IBM says the 32-bit Windows version will introduce the use of its Distributed System Object Model. Microsoft's distributed version of OLE, Network OLE, is also due late next year.
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