Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!necntc!ima!marc
From: marc@ima.ISC.COM (Marc Evans)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.news
Subject: Re: Press Release-AT&T Look & Feel
Message-ID: <944@ima.ISC.COM>
Date: 12 Apr 88 14:11:52 GMT
References: <8804112224.AA02783@sundc.East.Sun.COM>
Reply-To: marc@ima.UUCP (Marc Evans)
Organization: Symmetrix, Ipswich, MA
Lines: 33
Keywords: X, NeWS, UNIX
Summary: What does it offer beyond X/NeWS?

I don't understand from this article, what this product has to offer beyond
the current X/NeWS systems available. Maybe the conference would shed some
light on this subject...

My question is this:

	X and NeWS are already available and are being designed into many
	products at this moment. X is public domain, as are most of the tools
	that provide ease of programming. NeWS, for a nominal fee, offers
	some nice extensions to X, but isn't required to create what could
	potentially be *standard* interface mechanisms.

	Given these basic concepts, what would make AT&T think that they
	can announce some vapor-ware, which apparently they are planning to
	charge for, and expect it to become *the standard*? I could understand
	that maybe, if it was available today, they could potentially be in
	the running for *the standard*, but the thing doesn't appear to be
	available until late in 1988 or early 1989. By then alot of programs
	will have been created incorporating either X or NeWS alone.

What about the interface IXI of Cambridge, Englang has created? It is already
available in some form... There is also the Apollo DIALOGUE package which is
available across a couple of different platforms...

Everybody, I think, realizes that there is a potentially large market for a
*standard* interface mechanism, and Apple has done a rather good job at
proving this point in the MAC series computers. It just seems to me, that if
everybody is going to put out a different *standard*, rather then working
with eachother (through ANSI or IEEE or X/Open possibly), to make a universal
*standard*, the industry is going to end up getting nowhere real fast....

OK - Now that I've blown off some steam, let the debate begin. Am I full of
sh*t or do others see the same problems coming towards us?