Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!apple!portal!fernwood!intuit!eshenk
From: eshenk@intuit.intuit.COM (Eric Shenk)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: GeoWorks Ensemble: any comments?
Message-ID: <399@intuit.intuit.COM>
Date: 14 Mar 91 23:25:34 GMT
References: <13085@helios.TAMU.EDU>
Organization: Intuit Int., Menlo Park, CA
Lines: 63

tony@cs.tamu.edu (Tony Encarnacion) writes:

>Has anybody used GeoWorks Ensemble, another window manager for PCs?  
>How does it compare to Windows 3.0?

>From the GeoWorks brochure, they claim that it can run on just 512K
>on an XT and has Motif-compliant interface.  It comes with a text
>processor, a drawing program, etc. but I did not see mention of 
>program development

I have only seen demos and played around with it, so I can't give you
a user's viewpoint.  However, from what I've seen and read, I can only
say that the guys at GeoWorks are absolutely brilliant!  This is what
early versions of Windows should have looked like.  In *everything* that
they have implemented, they make Windows look like a dinosaur.  It runs
in next to no memory at all (the Kernel was designed to use ~70K.  No, I
didn't leave out any digits, I really meant 70K).  Inspite of the fact
that they use outline font technology and run everything through graphics
device drivers, it is blazing fast.  On my machine, it displays a *full
page* n less than a second.  This is outline fonts displayable at arbi-
trary point sizes (like 10 1/8) in a variety of colors and styles.
Granted I have a 486, but I've seen it on slow 286 machines and the
speed is very acceptable.  This stuff looks *really* good.  It is the
first time I've ever had Mac users be jealous of how my DOS machine
looks (seriously).  The outline fonts and NExT-like windows and icons
make it very sharp.  Other tidbits of interest to programming types:
It supports true-premeptive multitasking (including multiple threads of
execution within one process), dynamic memory management, arbitrary
window shapes, and uses MS-DOS files access for compatiability.  Oh
yeah, another really cool thing:  they are going to release a version (if
they haven't already) that allows you to switch between Motif, Open Look
and CUA/Presentation manager interfaces whenever you want, and all of
your apps still work.  [having completed the world's largest run-on
paragraph, I pause to breathe]

So how do they do it?  They write everything in an object oriented assembler
of their own development.  Unfortunately, it only works as a cross compiler
running on Sun 386i's.  The company is more than happy to have you develop
stuff for GeoWorks but you'll have to do it on Sunn's in their language.
Bummer.  However, they are planning on brining the development evironment
down to the real world.

Just a final note:  I thought "Ah, assembler hackers.  No wonder it's so
tight and fast.  The code for it must really be a mess."  Not so!  Their
internal design is equally as brilliant as their external design (I have
the developer's overview).  Everything is beautifully layered and seperated
and abstracted just like the profs always said it should be.  It's all
object oriented, libraried, drivered, and kerneled.  The system abstracts
out the UI from the data and does it in such a way that's it's supposedly
easy to code in a UI-independant fashion (remember that the user can switch
UI's at the flick of a button!).

Did I mention that I think these guys are stunningly brilliant?  :)
-eric

PS, If these guys go under and Microsoft succeeds, it will definitely prove
that there is no justice in the world and that good money matters a heck of
a lot more than good product.

PPS, I should mention that Windows has a lot more than this, like object
linking and so on.  But in all of the basics, Geoworks is VASTLY superior.