Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!decwrl!ucbvax!hoptoad!gnu
From: gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.news
Subject: Re: sun's commitment to NeWS
Message-ID: <10762@hoptoad.uucp>
Date: 12 Mar 90 12:33:27 GMT
References: <9003071155.AA05836@aida.canon.co.uk>
Organization: Cygnus Support, Palo Alto
Lines: 39

I'm glad that people believe James Gosling about NeWS more than they
believe me.  Check his message for specifics, though.  Weed out the
promises and soothing noises and what is left?

> John claims that the NeWS team has disintegrated, while James talks about
> consolidation [of the NeWS team] under a single organisation.

The "old" NeWS team has disintegrated.  There may be a "new" NeWS team...

>                             ...Sun, and others, will be releasing NeWS-based
> applications Real Soon Now. [Though not, presumably, Grasshopper?]

Grasshopper has no NeWS products in the pipeline.  At this point we are
a consulting company.  When we run out of consulting we'll dissolve it.

>  ...in trying to fathom out the truth we ought to ask ourselves who James
> speaks for....He might be said to represent the good side of Sun, (technically
> driven, innovative, with [and here I plunge into supposition] that sense of
> "bugger the standards, I want the best" kind of belief in NeWS).

I agree with this characterization; James is tops on my list.  The problem
is that he's been fooled before with Sun's promises, level of committment,
and simply how much work it is to get from here to there.

>                                                         . . .if what we hear
> is true then *this* time the clever money rides with the NeWS group.

Even if Sun has a high level of committment to NeWS, I can't see it as
a viable window system unless they take it non-proprietary.  I can see
that a very committed Sun could make it a good, proprietary,
replacement for SunView with some time and work.  But the chance for it
to take hold in the wide world as a proprietary product has been shot
to hell by the combination of Sun, DEC, and X.  Even as a free product
it will be an uphill battle since the marketing war is already lost.
-- 
John Gilmore      {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid}!hoptoad!gnu      gnu@toad.com
 Boycott the census!  In 1942, the Census Bureau told the Army which block
every Japanese-American lived on, so they could be hustled to internment camps.
         Maximum penalty for refusing to answer:  $100, no jail.