Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!benoni
From: benoni@ssc-vax.UUCP (Charles L Ditzel)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Sun or AT&T -- who blinked? (was: GNU Ramblings, Unix thoughts)
Summary: NeWS
Message-ID: <1625@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: 24 Jan 88 05:25:30 GMT
References: <153@mozart.UUCP> <1351@sugar.UUCP> <850@elmgate.UUCP> <163@ateng.UUCP>
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Corp., Seattle WA
Lines: 38

In article <163@ateng.UUCP>, chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg) writes:
> I don't quite believe that Sun's actions define a de-facto standard.  For
> example:  NeWS.  X is the de-facto standard, and Display Postscript is on
> the horizon; NeWS never was more than a stopgap.  Sun was the loser until
> it agreed to support X.
Yes is X is in current vogue. I don't agree that NeWS has lost, quite the
contrary, two major forces have source licenses :
   1) AT&T
   2) Microsoft
There are others (such as Silicon Graphics, Whitechapel, Acorn,
Celerity, Ridge, Alliant...to name a few - also alot of universities)
but these two pose potentially terminal problems for X.
NeWS has a lot of backers...I think X has as many or more.  Having read
various evaluations (such as one from the University of London) they seem
to sing the same tune : look for X for the next few years to be prominent,
but the long term is NeWS or a NeWS-like product.
A version of 80386 NeWS will emerge from Uniforum.  

> (The decision to merge X and NeWS was even dumber, in my opinion, than the
> decision to invent NeWS.  Datamation's definition of "kludge" -- "an ill-
> assorted collection of poorly matching parts, forming a distressing whole"
> -- applies quite nicely to the X-NeWS merge.  But I digress.)

I think you are completely wrong on this one.  A NeWS/X platform provides
the best of two worlds.  Further it has convinced me that NeWS is a much
more powerful paradigm...it is capable of emulating X altogether (the
reverse is probably not possible - it is doubtful that X could provide
emulation of NeWS - I think this is one of many types of acid tests).
AT&T has bought into this NeWS/X approach as have a large number of other
companies.
  
> Sun and AT&T recognize that as long as the UNIX market is divided into two
> camps, each with its own user and system interfaces, UNIX will never become
> as overwhelmingly popular as they would like.  So they are working together

I think we will be seeing a decent Unix standard emerging.  I suspect 
that between Sun 386, Sun 3/60, NeXT Machines and Apple A/UX Mac II
...we may have see Unix furthered by quite a bit more than you think.