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Wabi (software)
Wabi is a discontinued commercial software application from Sun Microsystems that implements the Windows Win16 API specification. Wabi runs applications developed for Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, and Windows for Workgroups, interpreting and translating x86 instructions where appropriate, but without emulating IBM PC compatible hardware.
Wabi was originally released for Solaris, with versions following for AIX, HP-UX and SCO OpenServer. A version for Linux was also released by Caldera.
The technology was originally developed by Praxsys Technologies as the result of discussions in 1990 with Interactive Systems Corporation. The assets of Praxsys were acquired by Sun in the fall of 1992. Originally referenced in publicity as WABI, short for Windows Application Binary Interface, the product was eventually known as Wabi, reportedly to avoid trademark issues. Another connotation given to the name is its meaning in Japanese aesthetics, given as "quiet taste" in SunSoft's own literature, with the original WABI acronym being acknowledged as "a fair description of what Wabi is".
Originally demonstrated by SunSelect, a division of Sun Microsystems, at the 1992 Fall Comdex show, the product was described as leveraging the Windows API to be able to "separate the software from the hardware", allowing RISC workstation vendors such as Sun to provide greater performance running Windows applications than such applications exhibited on conventional Intel-based personal computers. This use of the Windows API meant that Wabi was not able to run DOS applications, unlike other solutions such as the company's existing SunPC product based on technology licensed from SoftPC creator Insignia Solutions.
Announced in May 1993, Wabi was to be offered at no cost to Solaris purchasers during that year. Later in 1993, IBM obtained the right to offer the software on its own RS/6000 workstation range in exchange for granting Sun access to "certain IBM technology to enhance WABI further". Sun announced Wabi 1.1 in April 1994, having shipped only 30,000 copies of Wabi 1.0. Offering "significantly enhanced stability and reliability" over the previous version, Hewlett-Packard and IBM were also to provide the updated software on their own systems. Wabi 2.0 was promised as a further upgrade in the summer of 1994, supporting a larger number of certified applications than the 13 titles of the original release.
By late 1994, Sun had reported shipping 100,000 copies of Wabi bundled at no extra cost with Solaris 2. Meanwhile, HP and IBM offered the product as an optional extra, charging $395.00 and $249.00 respectively. Wabi 2.0 eventually broadened application support to 24 titles, these reportedly accounting for "over 80 percent of the commercial Windows applications market". SCO also offered Wabi as an option for its OpenServer Release 5 products, specifically Wabi 2.0.
Sun improved the product further and released Wabi 2.1 in 1995, introducing multimedia capabilities such as the handling of audio and video, as well as ODBC support in Windows applications. Alongside this, Sun upgraded its version of Merge, offered to run DOS applications, announced a deal with Merge's creator, Locus Computing Corporation, for continued development of that product, and introduced a faster CPU in its SunPC expansion card. The company indicated that with the introduction of Windows 95, anticipating that sufficient demand for Windows 95 applications would be met with an updated version of Wabi supporting such applications within a year of the release of Windows 95. Sun also introduced WabiServer, providing a means of running Windows applications in Wabi on a server, with clients accessing those applications over a network. This permitted X terminals and low-end SPARC systems, including those running SunOS, to take advantage of the software.
Wabi 2.2 was licensed from SunSoft by Caldera in 1996 as part of that company's Linux strategy, releasing the software in November of that year, being sold as a product for various Linux distributions. Wabi development was discontinued in December 1997, with only "sustaining engineering" being performed beyond this date. Wabi 2.2 revision E was the final Sun-issued version of the product, available only for Solaris 2.6.
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Wabi (software) AI simulator
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Wabi (software)
Wabi is a discontinued commercial software application from Sun Microsystems that implements the Windows Win16 API specification. Wabi runs applications developed for Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, and Windows for Workgroups, interpreting and translating x86 instructions where appropriate, but without emulating IBM PC compatible hardware.
Wabi was originally released for Solaris, with versions following for AIX, HP-UX and SCO OpenServer. A version for Linux was also released by Caldera.
The technology was originally developed by Praxsys Technologies as the result of discussions in 1990 with Interactive Systems Corporation. The assets of Praxsys were acquired by Sun in the fall of 1992. Originally referenced in publicity as WABI, short for Windows Application Binary Interface, the product was eventually known as Wabi, reportedly to avoid trademark issues. Another connotation given to the name is its meaning in Japanese aesthetics, given as "quiet taste" in SunSoft's own literature, with the original WABI acronym being acknowledged as "a fair description of what Wabi is".
Originally demonstrated by SunSelect, a division of Sun Microsystems, at the 1992 Fall Comdex show, the product was described as leveraging the Windows API to be able to "separate the software from the hardware", allowing RISC workstation vendors such as Sun to provide greater performance running Windows applications than such applications exhibited on conventional Intel-based personal computers. This use of the Windows API meant that Wabi was not able to run DOS applications, unlike other solutions such as the company's existing SunPC product based on technology licensed from SoftPC creator Insignia Solutions.
Announced in May 1993, Wabi was to be offered at no cost to Solaris purchasers during that year. Later in 1993, IBM obtained the right to offer the software on its own RS/6000 workstation range in exchange for granting Sun access to "certain IBM technology to enhance WABI further". Sun announced Wabi 1.1 in April 1994, having shipped only 30,000 copies of Wabi 1.0. Offering "significantly enhanced stability and reliability" over the previous version, Hewlett-Packard and IBM were also to provide the updated software on their own systems. Wabi 2.0 was promised as a further upgrade in the summer of 1994, supporting a larger number of certified applications than the 13 titles of the original release.
By late 1994, Sun had reported shipping 100,000 copies of Wabi bundled at no extra cost with Solaris 2. Meanwhile, HP and IBM offered the product as an optional extra, charging $395.00 and $249.00 respectively. Wabi 2.0 eventually broadened application support to 24 titles, these reportedly accounting for "over 80 percent of the commercial Windows applications market". SCO also offered Wabi as an option for its OpenServer Release 5 products, specifically Wabi 2.0.
Sun improved the product further and released Wabi 2.1 in 1995, introducing multimedia capabilities such as the handling of audio and video, as well as ODBC support in Windows applications. Alongside this, Sun upgraded its version of Merge, offered to run DOS applications, announced a deal with Merge's creator, Locus Computing Corporation, for continued development of that product, and introduced a faster CPU in its SunPC expansion card. The company indicated that with the introduction of Windows 95, anticipating that sufficient demand for Windows 95 applications would be met with an updated version of Wabi supporting such applications within a year of the release of Windows 95. Sun also introduced WabiServer, providing a means of running Windows applications in Wabi on a server, with clients accessing those applications over a network. This permitted X terminals and low-end SPARC systems, including those running SunOS, to take advantage of the software.
Wabi 2.2 was licensed from SunSoft by Caldera in 1996 as part of that company's Linux strategy, releasing the software in November of that year, being sold as a product for various Linux distributions. Wabi development was discontinued in December 1997, with only "sustaining engineering" being performed beyond this date. Wabi 2.2 revision E was the final Sun-issued version of the product, available only for Solaris 2.6.
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