Caldera OS to run Windows apps

Trying to make its Internet-savvy Caldera Network Desktop operating system more attractive to the average PC user, Caldera licensed software today from SunSoft that will let the Caldera OS run Windows applications.

Caldera, a private company largely funded by former Novell CEO Ray Noorda, recently shipped its Network Desktop, an operating system designed from the ground up to provide complete Internet access for Intel-based PCs. It comes with all the networking protocols and technologies necessary to take advantage of Internet services and a copy of Netscape Navigator and other Internet software.

Now the company has licensed SunSoft's Wabi, translation software that lets Unix operating systems run many Windows applications. Caldera will port Wabi to Linux, a variant of Unix that forms the heart of the Caldera Network Desktop.

So far, Linux has proven popular with academia and hard-core Unix users but has not gained ground against the mainstream operating systems. Caldera hopes that the capability to run Windows applications and the ever-growing popularity of the Internet will change that.

Caldera will deliver Wabi on its $200 Solutions CD in the second quarter. The Solutions CD will also include applications such as the WordPerfect word processor and CorelDraw drawing package ported to Linux.

Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and SCO have already licensed Wabi.