Wabi (software)

Wabi was a commercial product from Sun Microsystems that implemented the Windows Win16 API specification on Solaris; a version for Linux was also released by Caldera Systems. Wabi supported running applications developed for Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11, and Windows for Workgroups.

History

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. The name "Wabi" was chosen for two reasons: its meaning in Japanese of balance or harmony, which conjured the notion of a more peaceful coexistence between Windows and Unix software; and, the more obvious implication of it standing for "Windows Application Binary Interface", although before its release Sun declared that the name was not an acronym.

Wabi 2.2B was licensed by Caldera to allow its users to run Windows applications under Linux, together with the also licensed Merge.

Wabi development was discontinued in December 1997.

Software

Computer software also called a program or simply software is any set of instructions that directs a computer to perform specific tasks or operations. Computer software consists of computer programs, libraries and related non-executable data (such as online documentation or digital media). Computer software is non-tangible, contrasted with computer hardware, which is the physical component of computers. Computer hardware and software require each other and neither can be realistically used without the other.

At the lowest level, executable code consists of machine language instructions specific to an individual processor—typically a central processing unit (CPU). A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. For example, an instruction may change the value stored in a particular storage location in the computer—an effect that is not directly observable to the user. An instruction may also (indirectly) cause something to appear on a display of the computer system—a state change which should be visible to the user. The processor carries out the instructions in the order they are provided, unless it is instructed to "jump" to a different instruction, or interrupted.

Software (novel)

Software is a 1982 cyberpunk science fiction novel written by Rudy Rucker. It won the first Philip K. Dick Award in 1983. The novel is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy, and was followed by a sequel, Wetware, in 1988.

Plot summary

Software introduces Cobb Anderson as a retired computer scientist who was once tried for treason for figuring out how to give robots artificial intelligence and free will, creating the race of boppers. By 2020, they have created a complex society on the Moon, where the boppers developed because they depend on super-cooled superconducting circuits. In that year, Anderson is a pheezer — a freaky geezer, Rucker's depiction of elderly Baby Boomers — living in poverty in Florida and terrified because he lacks the money to buy a new artificial heart to replace his failing, secondhand one.

As the story begins, Anderson is approached by a robot duplicate of himself who invites him to the Moon to be given immortality. Meanwhile, the series' other main character, Sta-Hi Mooney the 1st — born Stanley Hilary Mooney Jr. — a 25-year-old cab driver and "brainsurfer", is kidnapped by a gang of serial killers known as the Little Kidders who almost eat his brain. When Anderson and Mooney travel to the Moon together at the boppers' expense, they find that these events are closely related: the "immortality" given to Anderson turns out to be having his mind transferred into software via the same brain-destroying technique used by the Little Kidders.

Software (development cooperation)

See also

Further reading

WABI

WABI or wabi may refer to:

WAEI (AM)

WAEI (910 AM) is a radio station licensed to Bangor, Maine, USA. The station is owned by Blueberry Broadcasting.as of August 28, 2014.

History

The station began broadcasting as WABI in November 1924, operating at 1250 kilocycles under the ownership of the Bangor Railway & Electric Company. A license had been granted in May 1923. It is Maine's oldest radio station (several other stations, including WMB in Auburn and WPAY in Bangor, were licensed prior to WABI but have since ceased operations, with WMB being deleted two months before WABI's licensing). Ownership was transferred to the First Universalist Church by 1926; within a year, it moved to 770 kc., and on November 11, 1928, the Federal Radio Commission moved WABI to 1200 kc. By 1930, the station was owned by Pine Tree Broadcasting Corporation; in 1932, it was again transferred to the First Universalist Society. Under the First Universalist Church, WABI only broadcast on Sundays. The station was owned by Community Broadcasting Service by 1935; it was Bangor's CBS affiliate, replacing WLBZ, by 1939. During the early 1940s, WABI again changed frequencies; the North American Radio Broadcasting Agreement moved the station to 1230 kc. in 1941, and in 1942 it began broadcasting at its current frequency of 910 kHz.