Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!hplabs!hpfcso!hpfcmgw!chan
From: chan@hpfcmgw.HP.COM (Chan Benson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: OSF X tools (was Re: hp-ux 7.0 recall?)
Message-ID: <1080125@hpfcmgw.HP.COM>
Date: 7 Feb 90 19:31:33 GMT
References: <674@mmlai.UUCP>
Organization: HP Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 38

>Recently Sun announced that their proprietary window manager was being
>ported to other platforms, such as HP. (only the fact that UniPress was
>doing the port lent me hope, I have SEEN their software :-)
>
>If HP doesn't finish UIMX before this happens, or NewWave, or any of the
>other neat X tools, then you all at HP should just give up.  Sun will
>carry the day if the OSF members keep dragging their feet.

A few comments. 

First of all, UIMX does not compete with OpenLook, Motif does.  Motif is
out as an HP product.  UIMX is a Motif application for developing Motif
applications; it is not a window manager.  OSF hardly drug their feet
when it came to Motif, especially compared to how long it took Sun to
get their X11/News product out.

Secondly, from the trade rag account of Sun's announcement I read, I
could not figure what the heck they were talking about. If they are 
talking about XView (a SunView API for X11), then the news is not that
new, XView source has been available for some time now. I believe it's 
on the MIT R4 tape. The only significance I could see is if they are
rewriting XView to eliminate the substantial Berkeleyisms so that it
would move more easily to SYSV.

>You can't sell workstations if you don't have software!

Indeed, but in this case, the news is better for HP than Sun. With
XView it will be much easier for 3rd parties to port their Sunview
code to non-Sun machines. The question remaining is whether customers
will care that those programs have an OpenLook look rather than a
Motif look.

I see this story in a totally different light than you. To me it's an
indication of Sun struggling to reclaim the ground they've lost by
clinging to NeWS and OpenVapor, and the subsequent lateness of an X11 
product.

			-- Chan