Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!zardoz.coral.COM!don
From: don@zardoz.coral.COM (Don Dewar)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Openlook vs. Motif
Message-ID: <9007051118.AA10402@zardoz.coral.com>
Date: 5 Jul 90 11:18:36 GMT
Sender: daemon@athena.mit.edu (Mr Background)
Organization: The Internet
Lines: 40


If this debate continues to rage on, taking up both electronic and
visual (eyestrain) bandwidth, I would suggest we make a separate
mailing list.  This is a purely subjective argument at this time.
Yes, I have my opinion, but my opinion means nothing when one
considers that this issue is going to be decided by the interaction of
two factors: the market and defacto standards.  In a world where
software is more and more market driven (especially in the hotly
competitive workstation market), Sun will eventually go where
the market is.  Therefore, whichever Motif or Openlook becomes the
defacto standard, that is where Sun and most of the other players will
probably go.  Therefore, one very important consideration when trying to
*guess* which product will win is how much each product attempts to
pander to the "standards compliant" market by 1) building on existing
standards, 2) filling in the holes by creating reasonable standards where
none exists, and 3) appealing to a broad market by not maintaining
a legal stranglehold the product, which has in the past scared this
market segment.  I think this mail distribution deserves arguments based
on the technical merits of the products or on the "art" of user
interfaces; not on a bunch of pie in the sky numbers or on (somethimes
prejudical) subjective opinions.  Few of the market *analysis* I have
read here on this debate seem credible, and they certainly have not
quoted their sources.  I have already said more than I wanted to, so
in closing, I would beg that the persons continuing this argument
get verifiable *facts*, argue based on technical merit or on the human
factors side of user interfaces, or start a new mailing list to throw
their opinions at each other.



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