Acronym for
transparent operating system, a type of
local-area network designed by
Sun Microsystems that can combine
Apple Macintosh computers,
PCs, and Sun
workstations on the same
network. A particular strength of TOPS is that the networking
software is
transparent, meaning that
users do not need to adjust to a new
operating environment. PC users see their PC
interface and Mac users see the Mac interface.
TOPS uses the Macintosh computer's built-in AppleTalk protocol. It is a peer-to-peer network, which means that it does not require any computers to be set aside as file servers. Authorized users can access files from any disk drive connected to the network.