Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!att!cbnewsj!cbnewsi!cbnewsh!warren From: warren@cbnewsh.att.com (warren.a.montgomery) Newsgroups: comp.windows.x Subject: Re: GUI WARS! Summary: One size does not fit all Message-ID: <1991Feb28.140053.16741@cbnewsh.att.com> Date: 28 Feb 91 14:00:53 GMT References: <9102252115.AA07726@statsci.com> <22979@hydra.gatech.EDU> <1991Feb28.003512.9980@dsd.es.com> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 23 Gee, it sure would be more convenient if the whole world spoke the same language, or if we all ate the same kinds of food, or if we all wore the same style of clothes, BUT NONE OF THESE THINGS WILL EVER HAPPEN, BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T REALLY WANT THAT, SO WHY IS ALL OF THIS ENERGY BEING WASTED ON GUI WARS! The OpenLook versus Motif war is like the war between emacs and vi, or ASCII and EBCIDIC, or Fortran and Cobol, all of which are still healthy. Once users learn how to do something, they want to be able to keep doing that thing the same way. Since millions of users have already learned how to do all of the things that GUI's do in several different ways, one size will not fit all. I'm sure most users out there simply want all of their tools to be usable with the interface they already know (which is likely to be niether OpenLook nor Motif). Toolkits and libraries that let the user pick the interface seem the obvious solution, so why not spend our energies on these rather than debate which one will win. They will probably all be around a lot longer than we will. -- Warren Montgomery att!ihlpf!warren