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From: jim@ci-dandelion.UUCP (Jim Fulton)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.news
Subject: Re: Confusing Confusion with Technical Issues
Message-ID: <1730@ci-dandelion.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-May-87 16:50:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: ci-dande.1730
Posted: Thu May 21 16:50:53 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 13:42:57 EDT
References: <8705181811.AA05417@maximo.uucp>
Organization: Cognition, Inc., Billerica, Ma.
Lines: 57
Summary: Writer was confusing WINDOW SYSTEMS with USER INTERFACES

>            As a  person interested in building programs with
> good interfaces, it doesn't seem to supply a toolkit, instead
> it provides several, all incompatible.  It doesn't seem to supply
> any particular model for building such interfaces, instead, it
> provides support for unbounded excess creativity.

Probably one of the main reasons why X is (and NeWS will hopefully become) so
popular in the industry is that it DOESN'T inflict any particular UI model.
The canon that a window system should provide "mechanism, not policy" isn't
just a cliche.  Toolkits are a powerful and necessary mechanism that X needs
(and will have) for building USER INTERFACES, but they by no means should
define the way in which one writes applications that use the window system. 

> As for Mr. Scheifler's comments about everyone adopting X for
> different reasons, the real reason is that none of the other
> vendors wanted SUN's name on TWO Unix standards, so when X
> came along and it seemed competent, ZAP!! 

I'll assume that this is refering to NeWS and that is meant to be taken
seriously.  Many companies had decided that The X Window System was valuable
well before Sun announced NeWS (I personally picked up our copy of the X.V6
tape two years ago, back when one actually had to sign a license agreement to
get X).  Regardless of the technical issues, the simple matters of

	o cost ($25000 vs. $100), 
	o time (X has been available for development use longer),
	o proven portability, and
	o ownership (changes in X through V10 were done primarily by MIT; X11
		was designed in concert with a number of manufacturers and
		MIT has repeated stated its desire to get out of the window
		system business)

make it not very surprising that a lot of companies are supporting X11.  If Sun
does a good job on their NeWS/X11 port and addresses these issues I suspect
that NeWS will become a very popular path for upward-compatible growth within
the industry.  

There are clearly more ill-designed user interfaces around than there are
well-designed ones.  But if part of your product's appeal is its UI then you
had better make sure you put more effort into it than just letting a couple of
random programmers hack up something that they feel is adequate.  Whether or
not you have complicated libraries of widgets you still need good artists and a
feel for the perspective of the intended user. 

Excellent, commercial user interfaces can be and have been implemented on top
of X.  Under X11 it will be much easier, and under NeWS/X11 it may well be
easier still. 

							Jim Fulton
							Cognition Inc.
                                                        900 Tech Park Drive
uucp:  ...!{mit-eddie,talcott,necntc}!ci-dandelion!jim  Billerica, MA  01821
arpa:  jim@athena.mit.edu, fulton@eddie.mit.edu         (617) 667-4800