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Re: OPEN SYSTEMS

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aaronlo...@gmail.com

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Feb 7, 2013, 12:01:47 AM2/7/13
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On Wednesday, March 17, 1993 10:19:28 AM UTC-5, Steve Frazzini - Sales Rep Sun Vienna wrote:
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
>
> UNIX LEADERS ANNOUNCE COMMON OPEN SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENT
> Six Companies Agree On Software Technologies And Common Desktop
> Reinforce Commitment To Open Systems
>
>
> SAN FRANCISCO, UNIFORUM, March 17, 1993 -- Worldwide UNIX
> system leaders Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corp., The Santa Cruz
> Operation, Inc., Sun Microsystems, Inc., Univel and UNIX System
> Laboratories, Inc. today announced their intent to deliver a common
> open software environment across their UNIX system platforms. This
> announcement is in response to increased customer demand for consistent
> technologies across multiple platforms, greater technology choice,
> increased cost savings and quicker time to market.
>
> HP, IBM, SCO, SunSoft, the software subsidiary of Sun
> Microsystems, Inc., Univel and USL have defined a specification for a
> common desktop environment that gives end users a consistent look and
> feel. They have defined a consistent set of application programming
> interfaces (APIs) for the desktop that will run across all of their
> systems, opening up a larger opportunity for software developers. The
> six companies have each decided to adopt common networking products,
> allowing for increased interoperability across heterogeneous
> computers. In addition, they have endorsed specifications, standards
> and technologies in the areas of graphics, multimedia and object
> technology, and have announced a working group in the area of systems
> administration. All of the new specifications, technologies and
> products will be designed to preserve compatibility with the companies'
> existing software application environments.
>
> Today's announcement is a strong endorsement for the premise of
> open systems. Under open systems, unencumbered specifications are
> freely available, independent branding and certification processes
> exist, multiple implementations of a single product may be created and
> competition is enhanced. To this extent, the Open Software Foundation
> (OSF) has agreed to submit the Motif specification and associated
> support materials to X/Open for incorporation into a future release of
> X/Open's portability guide, including licensing of the trademark and
> the branding process. In addition, Novell/Univel have agreed to submit
> the specification for the NetWare UNIX client to X/Open.
>
>
> Common Desktop Environment
>
> The six companies have defined a specification for a common desktop
> environment that will provide end users with a consistent computing
> experience and software developers with a consistent set of programming
> interfaces for the HP, IBM, SCO, SunSoft, Univel and USL platforms.
> This advanced environment will enable users to transparently access
> data and applications from anywhere in the netork.
>
> The companies plan to publish a preliminary specification for the
> environment by the end of June, 1993 and will periodically release
> updates to the industry. They have agreed to submit the specification
> to X/Open for incorporation into the X/Open portability guide. HP, IBM,
> Sun and USL will make available an implementation for the common
> desktop, based on X/Open specifications, in the first half of 1994 that
> will be openly licensable to the industry. SCO and Univel will strongly
> participate on the evolution of this common desktop environment. The
> six companies will host a Developers Conference in early October to
> give users and software developers details on products and direction.
>
> The common desktop environment will incorporate aspects of HP's
> Visual User Environment (VUE), IBM's Common User Access model and
> Workplace Shell, OSF's Motif toolkit and Window Manager, SunSoft's OPEN
> LOOK and DeskSet productivity tools and USL's UNIX SVR4.2 desktop
> manager components and scalable systems technologies. Specific
> technologies to be used by the six companies include the X Window
> System, Version 11, the Motif toolkit and interface and SunSoft's
> ToolTalk interapplication communication product with an incorporated HP
> Encapsulator. As most of this environment exists today, the companies
> will integrate key technologies available in the open marketplace and
> innovate where appropriate to give users and software developers a
> consistent UNIX desktop environment. The common desktop environment was
> demonstrated here today running across five hardware and software
> platforms.
>
> The companies' goal is to preserve compatibility of existing
> applications written to HP-UX, IBM AIX/6000, SCO Open Desktop, SunSoft
> Solaris, Univel UnixWare and USL UNIX SVR4.2 as they are evolved from
> their current desktops to the common desktop environment.
>
>
> Networking
>
> In furthering support for heterogeneous computing, HP, IBM, SCO,
> SunSoft, Univel and USL will sell, deliver and support OSF's DCE,
> SunSoft's ONC+ and Novell/Univel's NetWare UNIX client networking
> products. The companies will offer customers greater choice while
> providing them with a consistent level of support and integration.
> Users will gain increased interoperability across multiple platforms
> while continuing to protect their current investments.
>
> Individual companies will announce pricing and availability for
> each of their products at a later date.
>
>
> Graphics
>
> To enable consistent implementation of high-performance
> graphics software and promote wider availability of applications in the
> marketplace, the companies plan to support a core set of graphics
> facilities from the X Consortium. These are Xlib/X for basic 2D pixel
> graphics; Pexlib/PEX for 2D/3D geometry graphics; and XIElib/XIE for
> advanced imaging.
>
>
> Multimedia
>
> The six companies will submit a joint specification for the
> Interactive Multimedia Association's (IMA) request for technology. This
> will provide users with consistent access to multimedia tools in
> heterogeneous environments and enable developers to create
> next-generation applications using media as data.
>
>
> Object Technology
>
> HP, IBM, SCO, SunSoft, Univel and USL are working together to
> accelerate the development and delivery of object-based technology.
> They are supporting the efforts of the Object Management Group (OMG)
> that has developed the Common Object Request Broker (CORBA) standard
> for distributed object management solutions. The companies will comply
> with the CORBA specification in their future product implementations.
>
> In addition, the companies will work with the OMG to establish
> common guidelines to simplify developer transition, specify core
> capabilities for object construction and development, and further the
> adoption of common testing and certification.
>
>
> Systems Management
>
> As more customers move to distributed heterogeneous computing
> environments, enterprise system management becomes a critical
> requirement. To this extent, the six companies will form a working
> group to facilitate the rationalization and rapid acceptance of
> industry specifications in the systems management arena. The companies
> will initially focus on the areas of user and group management;
> software installation and distribution management; software licensing
> management; storage management; print spooling and distributed file
> system management.
>
>
> ###
>
> 1993 IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines
> Corp. and AIX/6000 is a trademark of International Business Machines
> Corp. NetWare is a registered trademark of Novell, Inc. OSF, Motif and
> Open Software Foundation are trademarks of the Open Software Foundation
> in the U.S. Univel and UnixWare are trademarks of Univel. SCO and SCO
> Open Desktop are registered trademarks of The Santa Cruz Operation,
> Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. Sun Microsystems, Inc. SunSoft,
> Solaris, ONC+ and ToolTalk are trademarks or registered trademarks of
> Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX and OPEN LOOK are registered trademarks of
> UNIX System Laboratories in the U.S. and other countries. X/Open is a
> trademark of X/Open Company Ltd. in the United Kingdom and other
> countries. All other products or service names mentioned herein are
> trademarks of their respective owners.
>
>
>
> CONTACTS:
>
> Hewlett-Packard Company
> Lynn Wehner
> 508-436-5017
>
> IBM, Corp.
> Kathleen Ryan
> 914-642-4634
>
> The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
> Zee Zaballos
> 408-427-7156
>
> SunSoft, Inc.
> Shernaz Daver
> 415-336-0678
>
> Univel
> Melanie King
> 408-729-2342
>
> UNIX System Laboratories, Inc.
> Larry Lytle
> 908-522-5186

Steve Frazzini - Sales Rep Sun Vienna

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Mar 17, 1993, 10:14:36 AM3/17/93
to

Guy Harris

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Mar 17, 1993, 10:39:43 PM3/17/93
to
> The common desktop environment will incorporate aspects of HP's
>Visual User Environment (VUE), IBM's Common User Access model and
>Workplace Shell, OSF's Motif toolkit and Window Manager, SunSoft's OPEN
>LOOK and DeskSet productivity tools

The only place, in this press release, other than the above that
mentions OPEN LOOK is the trademark section.

In addition, it goes on to say:

>and USL's UNIX SVR4.2 desktop
>manager components and scalable systems technologies. Specific
>technologies to be used by the six companies include the X Window
>System, Version 11, the Motif toolkit and interface

without any mention of SunSoft's *or* USL's OPEN LOOK toolkits.

Does "SunSoft's OPEN LOOK and DeskSet productivity tools", or "USL's
UNIX SVR4.2 desktop manager components", include any of SunSoft's or
USL's OPEN LOOK toolkits, or either of their OPEN LOOK window managers?

Steve Frazzini - Sales Rep Sun Vienna

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Mar 18, 1993, 3:41:53 PM3/18/93
to

The details of this announcement have yet to be heard...


Steve

Matt Landau

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Mar 18, 1993, 5:23:36 PM3/18/93
to
In <17...@auspex-gw.auspex.com> g...@Auspex.COM (Guy Harris) writes:

>>and USL's UNIX SVR4.2 desktop
>>manager components and scalable systems technologies. Specific
>>technologies to be used by the six companies include the X Window
>>System, Version 11, the Motif toolkit and interface

>without any mention of SunSoft's *or* USL's OPEN LOOK toolkits.

Well, I happened to get a look at a memo that was sent by Scott McNealy
[or his surrogate] to all Sun employees just before the press release
(no, don't ask how ;-), and it said this:

The environment will leverage SunSoft's ToolTalk service for
application interoperability and the Motif toolkit with
compatibility enhancements to support easy use by our current
OpenLook users. Additionally, the environment will support the
execution of existing XView and OLit applications.

No, I don't know what "compatibility enhancements to support ... OpenLook
users" means. To paraphrase a famous Supreme Court justice:

I don't know what it's going to look like, but it's going to
be *called* Motif.
--
Matt Landau Waiting for a flash of enlightenment
ma...@centerline.com in all this blood and thunder

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