ssy@silvlis.com (05/31/90)
On May 11, I posted a survey of X Windows usage amongst readers of comp.lsi
and comp.lsi.cad. As promised, here is a summary of the survey responses.
I hope CAE/EDA software vendors find the results to be of use. ;-)
Cheers,
--
Spencer Yeh e-mail: ssy@silvlis.com
Silvar-Lisco, Inc. UUCP: ..!uunet!sun!silvlis!ssy
703 E. Evelyn Voice: (408) 991-6085
Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Fax: (408) 737-9979
SUMMARY OF X CAE/EDA SURVEY RESULTS
===================================
5/31/90
Spencer Yeh
There were a total of 13 respondents from around the world. The mix was about
2/3 commercial and 1/3 academic.
The following is the survey as posted to comp.lsi and comp.lsi.cad with survey
results inserted as comments.
>---
>
>I am working with a company in the CAE field and am trying to evaluate
>typical CAE/EDA users' needs for X Windows based environments such as
>Motif or OpenLook.
>
>I am interested in the following questions:
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>As a CAE/EDA software user:
>
> 1. When will you have X Windows installed on your
> workstation? (at least Xlib)? ________________
>
* All 13 respondents answered "NOW" to this question.
> 2. Which window system will you be using, Motif, OpenLook,
> or "other" (e.g. twm, uwm, etc.)? ________________
>
* OpenLook: 8
* Motif: 3
* twm: 6
* uwm: 1
* (Many users mentioned two or more window systems)
> 3. Would you mind running a Motif-style program from an
> OpenLook window environment? ________________
>
* No: 8
* Yes: 1
* Depends on speed: 1
* Not sure: 2
> 4. Would you mind running an OpenLook-style program from a
> Motif window environment? ________________
>
* No: 9
* Yes: 0
* Depends on speed: 1
* Not sure: 2
> 5. Do you rely upon equipment that in not X-compatible,
> e.g. older Tektronix terminals? ________________
>
* No: 10
* Yes: 3
> If yes, when will you be switching to X-compatible
> equipment? (Workstations or X-terminals) ________________
>
* "when they break": 1
* "in the process (of switching)": 1
> 6. Do you require plotter output? ________________
>
* Yes: 12
* No: 1
> If yes, what kind of plotters do you use? ________________
>
> ________________ _____________ ______________ ________________
>
>
* Many different makes and models were mentioned.
* Categorized by manufacturer, the results were:
* HP: 11
* Versatec: 4
* Postscript Laser printer: 5
* Tektronix: 2
* Calcomp: 1
* Imagen: 1
* Houston Instruments: 1
* Epson: 1
* (Many respondents used more than one type of plotter).
>If you never intend to use X windows, please answer 'NEVER' to
>question number 1 above.
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>If you are an END-USER (not programmer !!) of CAE/EDA software, I would very
>much appreciate it if you could fill out the above survey and send
>it to me at the below e-mail address.
>
>Please DO NOT send responses to the net; I will summarize the survey
>results and post the summary to the net.
>
>Thanks to those taking the taking the time to fill out this survey.
>
>--
>Spencer Yeh e-mail: ssy@silvlis.com
>Silvar-Lisco, Inc. UUCP: ..!uunet!sun!silvlis!ssy
>703 E. Evelyn Voice: (408) 991-6085
>Sunnyvale, CA 94086 Fax: (408) 737-9979
>
>
=================================================================================
=================================================================================
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS INCLUDED:
==================
1. When will you have X Windows installed on your
workstation? (at least Xlib)?
It is installed already, but I use Sunview instead. The reason is that
very few of the popuar CAD/CAD packages run under X-windows. I suspect
that when Sun Microsystems "officially" supports X, the CAE vendors
will also. When that happens, we will change over too. I noticed that
there were more products running X at the Design Automation Conference
last year. I hope the trend continues.
As a sidelight, I have been writing CAE/CAD tools with an eye to keeping
them as easily portable to X-windows as possible.
> 2. Which window system will you be using, Motif, OpenLook,
> or "other" (e.g. twm, uwm, etc.)?
We at Convex use them all, although Motif seems to have the most
following from non-programmers.
<name deleted>
==================
In response to your article in comp.lsi.cad, here's one completed questionaire.
As a CAE/EDA (Silvar Lisco, indeed!!) software user:
(survey deleted..)
I don't care what form it takes - just gimme X windows with SL!!!
>Thanks to those taking the taking the time to fill out this survey.
Don't mention it 8-)
--
<name deleted>
==================
I am an engineer using Mentor Graphics sw to design Unix machines and
X terminals. Obviously we want to have Mentor support X as soon as
possible because it cuts our cost per seat dramatically. As you would
expect, it would take some rather powerful reasons to make us switch
EDA vendor though.
My answers to 2 and 3 above are really an acceptance of the status quo.
We do not have standard look and feel in EDA now and I don't expect this
to ever be completely solved. I do expect that Motif will have most of the
market though. (Mentor's next release uses Motif style widgets etc)
<name deleted>
==================
I currently do not have access to Motif or Openlook on a full time
basis, though I have used both for short periods of time. I have not
come across too many *clients* based on either, so my impressions are
based only on the current implementations of the window managers.
At this point I am ambivalent about which one I like better. It could
be quite irritating though to switch back and forth between one look-feel
in one window and another for another application. The whole point of
user interface definitions is to have a consistent user interface for
different applications. Granted, this is mainly directed to the novice
computer user (who likes the Mac for example because all applications feel
the same, though the Mac does not really provide a user interface toolkit -
but that is another story) but even for the experienced user it could be
bothersome if the look and feel changed all the time.
<name deleted>
==================