Page "Open Software Foundation" Paragraph 1

The organization was first proposed by Armando Stettner of Digital Equipment Corporation at a by-invitation-only meeting hosted by DEC for several UNIX system vendors ( called the " Hamilton Group ", since the meeting was held at DEC's offices on Palo Alto's Hamilton Avenue ).

It was intended as an organization for joint development, mostly in response to a perceived threat of " merged UNIX system " efforts by AT & T and Sun Microsystems.

The foundation's original sponsoring members were Apollo Computer, Groupe Bull, Digital Equipment Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Nixdorf Computer, and Siemens AG, sometimes called the " Gang of Seven ".

Later sponsor members included Philips and Hitachi with the broader general membership growing to more than a hundred companies.