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From: cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: NeWS for the ST!
Message-ID: <28570@sun.uucp>
Date: Mon, 21-Sep-87 00:29:21 EDT
Article-I.D.: sun.28570
Posted: Mon Sep 21 00:29:21 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 22-Sep-87 00:49:44 EDT
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Summary: NeWS and X are servers, not GEM replacements


Since I work at Sun a couple of people a week ask me whether or not NeWS
will be available/ported/sold for the Atari/Amiga/Mac/IBM-PC. The answer
is "There are no current plans for Sun to market NeWS for any microcomputer."
But the better answer is, the source license is $25,000. Do the port
(it isn't too tough if you have multiasking or can fake it in some way) 
and then sell 250 copies of the binaries at $100 each to pay of the 
cost of the source license. But this is not the reason for the message ...

A significant portion of the people who ask about NeWS (and X) want to 
know if it 'replaces' GEM. And that points out a fundamental misconception
about what you get when you get a server based window system. What you
get is a program that is a window 'service.' That is, you can send it 
requests, and get requests from it. This is not unlike a terminal program
that emulates a DEC VT100 terminal. The difference being that there are
several 'sessions' going on at once and the machine at the other end of
the line need only know about the window system protocol (like DEC machines
know about the VT100 protocol) to be able to use the interface to it's 
maximum advantage. What this means is, that if you get NeWS or X you
will *also* want to connect your machine to one that talks the window
system protocol (like a Sun server, or possibly something like the 'TT')
You don't always have enough power left to support both the NeWS client
code and other applications as well. 

So for those of you who want one of these window systems, encourage those
software firms to contact Sun (or MIT) for a liscense and some source
code.

--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis   BIX: cmcmanis  ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.