- PowerOpen Environment
The PowerOpen Environment (POE), created in
1991 , is anopen standard for running aUnix -basedoperating system on thePowerPC computer architecture .The POE contains API and ABI specifications. The presence of the ABI specification in the POE distinguishes it from other open systems such as
POSIX andXPG4 , since it allows platform-independent binary compatibility, which is otherwise typically limited to particular hardware. Derived from AIX, the POE conforms to industry open standards including POSIX, XPG4, and Motif.The POE is hardware bus independent. System implementations can range from
laptop computer s tosupercomputer s. It requires a multi-user, multitasking operating system. It provides networking support, anX Window System extension, a Macintosh Application Services extension, and Motif.The need for the POE lessened due to the increasing availability of Unix and
Linux distributions for the PowerPC, including AIX. The PowerOpen Association, an organization formed to promote the POE and test for conformance with it, disbanded in1995 ."This article was originally based on material from theFree On-line Dictionary of Computing and is used under the GFDL."
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