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From: andys@ulysses.att.com (Andy Sherman)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: X sucks (was: Re: Ware Ware Wizardjin)
Message-ID: <14619@ulysses.att.com>
Date: 19 Apr 91 14:01:50 GMT
References: <9104131319.AA01023@.nextserver.cs.stthomas.edu.cs.stthomas.edu..> <544@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM> <671916336.14801@mindcraft.com>
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In article <671916336.14801@mindcraft.com> karish@mindcraft.com (Chuck Karish) writes:
>In article <544@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM> lm@slovax.Eng.Sun.COM (Larry McVoy) writes:
>My perception is that Motif is winning the "war" and that OpenLook
>will persist as a third proprietary offering from Sun (note Bill
>Joy's comment that OpenLook is a "de facto standard" because of
>Sun'smarket share).  Does this make any sense?

I'm not in the trenches, so I don't know who, (*IF ANYBODY*) is
winning the GUI war.  However, OpenLook(TM) is *not* a proprietary
offering of Sun.  OpenLook is an interface specification that was
jointly published by AT&T and Sun.  The trademark is an AT&T (now USL)
property, not a Sun property.  You can buy OpenLook toolkits from
either AT&T/USL or Sun.  OpenWindows, on the other hand, is a combined
X11R4/NeWS server sold by Sun.  I believe the licensing terms are less
draconian than for NeWS.

Yes, there are ISVs using OpenLook.  For example, the spreadsheet we
use in my lab (20/20) is OpenLook, and no, that wasn't the reason we
bought it, although it was a plus.  For ISVs who want to hedge their
bets, there is an Object Interface library (developed by Solbourne,
but I think the AT&T C++ people may have picked it up as well) that
allows applications to determine their flavor at run time.


Andy Sherman/AT&T Bell Laboratories/Murray Hill, NJ
AUDIBLE:  (201) 582-5928
READABLE: andys@ulysses.att.com  or att!ulysses!andys
What? Me speak for AT&T?  You must be joking!