DEC MICA
MICA was the codename of the operating system developed for the DEC PRISM architecture. MICA was designed by a team at Digital Equipment Corporation led by Dave Cutler. MICA's design was driven by Digital's need to provide a migration path to PRISM for Digital's VAX/VMS customers, as well as allowing PRISM systems to compete in the increasingly important Unix market. MICA attempted to address these requirements by implementing VMS and ULTRIX user interfaces on top of a common kernel that could support the system calls (or "system services" in VMS parlance), libraries and utilities needed for both environments.
| Developer | Digital Equipment Corporation |
|---|---|
| Written in | PILLAR, C, SPASM |
| Working state | Abandoned |
| Source model | Proprietary software |
| Marketing target | Minicomputers, Workstations |
| Available in | English |
| Platforms | DEC PRISM |
| Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
| Userland | VMS and ULTRIX |
| Influenced | Windows NT |
| Influenced by | VAX/VMS, Ultrix, VAXELN |
| Default user interface | DCL, Unix shell, DECwindows |
| License | Proprietary |
MICA was cancelled in 1988 along with the PRISM architecture, before either project was complete. MICA is most notable for inspiring the design of Windows NT. When the PRISM architecture evolved into the DEC Alpha architecture, Digital opted to port OSF/1 and VMS to Alpha instead of reusing MICA.