ytsai@attunix.att.COM (12/12/90)
FOR RELEASE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1990 SUMMIT, N.J. -- UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. (USL), today announced several new products which together make its OPEN LOOK(R) Graphical User Interface (GUI), already the easiest GUI to use, even easier. The new products are the latest releases of USL's OPEN LOOK GUI, XWIN(R) Graphical Windowing System (GWS), and ALEX(TM) developer's tool software. Together, OPEN LOOK and XWIN GWS provide the most complete solution for development of a graphical windowing system for UNIX(R) System V. OPEN LOOK GUI, the USL ``look and feel'' for UNIX System V Release 4, and XWIN GWS, USL's implementation of the X Window System(TM) ported to System V, are available individually or combined. Together, they are offered as Graphics Services Version 4. ALEX software, which is a language extension to X developer's tool, is available separately. ``With the feature-rich Release 4 of the OPEN LOOK GUI, XWIN GWS, and ALEX software, USL demonstrates its commitment to provide a technically superior Graphical User Interface,'' said Joel Appelbaum, vice president of Open Solutions Software at USL. OPEN LOOK GUI continues to lead in the availability of commercial applications (such as graphics/illustration and word processing/ desktop publishing) by a wide margin over its nearest competitor, according to a report in the December 1990 Personal Workstation magazine. An intuitive user interface, OPEN LOOK GUI contains a completely ``customizable'' environment featuring icons, push-pins, pull- down menus, point-and-click desktop and file manager, and other utilities found in ``user-friendly'' systems. The interface is easy to master without any prior experience, and requires less effort than other GUIs, such as fewer keystrokes and shorter cursor movements. OPEN LOOK GUI works with any implementation of the industry- standard Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) X Window System Intrinsics Version X11R4, and provides complete compa- tibility for applications developed with earlier releases of OPEN LOOK GUI. In addition to being ported to the latest release of the MIT intrinsics, both OPEN LOOK GUI and XWIN GWS boast enhancements that deliver better performance and faster image transfer. With these new releases, end users are able to use single keys to customize: - the mouse, by changing assigned button settings to control its movements and modify the time between double clicks; - any of the more than 75 key settings used to navigate the screen; and - the color palette, which allows users to choose between pre-defined color selections or create their own. OPEN LOOK GUI Release 4 offers realistic three-dimensional visuals that provide enriched appearance and improved visual feedback to user input. Monochromatic monitor users will appreciate OPEN LOOK GUI's flexibility in supporting 2-D as well as 3-D looks, because 2-D provides a better monochromatic appearance. Release 4 of the OPEN LOOK GUI enables users who choose not to use a mouse to traverse the screen by using keyboard accelerators or navigational keys. Release 4 of XWIN GWS includes support for multiple servers, allowing users to run a server in each virtual terminal or on multiple terminals connected to a single central processing unit (CPU). In addition, the latest version of the XWIN GWS takes advantage of the Named Streams feature of UNIX System V Release 4, while providing enhanced performance on both UNIX System V Release 3.2 and Release 4. XWIN GWS recently received X/Open branding as XPG3 compliant, signifying that it meets X/Open's standards for portability. ALEX software enables programmers to convert character-based applications to OPEN LOOK graphical applications without modifying existing source code. ALEX significantly increases programmer productivity, and requires no knowledge of the X tool kit intrinsics. A fundamental GUI objective -- to make every application behave in a simple and consistent fashion -- is achieved with ALEX software. Graphics Services Version 4, OPEN LOOK GUI and XWIN GWS are available now. Source licensing fees for Graphics Services Version 4, which includes OPEN LOOK GUI and XWIN GWS, are $20,000 for the initial CPU. Offered separately, XWIN GWS is also available for a $20,000 source licensing fee for the initial CPU. OPEN LOOK GUI, also offered separately, has a source licensing fee of $1,000 for the initial CPU. Current UNIX System V Release 4, Graphics Services, and XWIN customers can upgrade through April 1, 1991 at a 50 percent discount. ALEX 1.0 software, which will work with OPEN LOOK Release 2.0 in a UNIX System V Release 3.2 environment, will be available on Jan. 15, 1991 for a source licensing fee of $20,000 for the initial CPU. An OPEN LOOK Release 4.0-compatible version will be available in a UNIX System V Release 4 environment later in the first quarter 1991. Vendors who wish to license the OPEN LOOK GUI, XWIN GWS, Graphics Services Version 4, or ALEX software should contact USL in Greensboro, N.C., at 1-800-828-UNIX or the appropriate USL subsidiary in London; Tokyo; New Delhi, India; Taipei, Taiwan; or Seoul, Korea. USL, a subsidiary of AT&T, develops and markets UNIX System V and related system software in source code form to computer hardware and system software vendors worldwide. USL, formerly known as AT&T's UNIX Software Organization, works closely with UNIX International, Inc., to ensure that UNIX System V evolves in step with the needs of the Open Systems Industry. # # # OPEN LOOK, XWIN and UNIX are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. X WINDOW SYSTEM is a trademark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. ALEX is a trademark of System Strategies Limited. -- Joe Kerrigan UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. 190 River Road, Room E-328 Summit, NJ 07901 voice: (908) 522-6230 e-mail: att!attunix!joe joe@attunix.att.com ############################################################################ COMMENT: Since USL is a source product provider, the prices listed in the press announcement are for the ISV's. Users are encouraged to request the 3D/mouseless OPEN LOOK binary package directly from their favorite vendor(s). -- Charles Tsai UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. 190 River Road, Room 4-236 Summit, NJ 07901 voice: (908) 522-6681 e-mail: att!attunix!ytsai ytsai@attunix.att.com
mouse@LIGHTNING.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (12/16/90)
> Subject: GA of OPEN LOOK Release 4 (Product Announcement) > FOR RELEASE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1990 Please cut the marketing BS when posting to xpert. I refer to comments like > SUMMIT, N.J. -- UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. (USL), today > announced several new products which together make its OPEN > LOOK(R) Graphical User Interface (GUI), already the easiest > GUI to use, even easier. Try instead SUMMIT, N.J. -- UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. (USL), today announced several new products for its OPEN LOOK GUI. I could go on, picking apart the rest of the posting in detail, but since this message is being sent to a great many mailboxes, I'll restrain myself to pointing out a couple of invalid implicit assumptions and near-lies. (Why am I posting this to the list? It's a (probably hopeless) attempt to keep it from happening again.) > its OPEN LOOK(R) Graphical User Interface (GUI), already the > easiest GUI to use, This is entirely a matter of opinion. I find that OL is nearly unusable. Not everybody agrees with you as to what makes a GUI easy to use, and indeed, the very thing that makes a GUI easy-to-use for one user is often a major impediment for another. > An intuitive user interface, OPEN LOOK GUI contains a > completely ``customizable'' environment featuring icons, > push-pins, pull-down menus, point-and-click desktop and file > manager, and other utilities found in ``user-friendly'' > systems. `Completely' customizable? I have yet to see *any* GUI, other than the one I designed and implemented myself, that can be customized to my taste. (To pick a simple example: how do I get rid of the title bars?) I would estimate that your posting could have been cut by a factor of 2, probably 3, without impairing its information content. (If you want me to demonstrate, mail me a copy and I'll mail back an edited-down version.) The 50 to 70 percent I refer to may be appropriate in an advertising glossy, or in biz.*, but surely not here. der Mouse old: mcgill-vision!mouse new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu
ytsai@attunix.att.COM (12/18/90)
article from der Mouse <mouse@lightning.McRCIM.McGill.EDU> writes: > > > Subject: GA of OPEN LOOK Release 4 (Product Announcement) > > > FOR RELEASE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1990 > > Please cut the marketing BS when posting to xpert. I'm sorry if you found it inappropriate for this forum, but I simply forwarded a press announcement without any modification. > I refer to comments like > > (... skipped ...) > > I could go on, picking apart the rest of the posting in detail, but > since this message is being sent to a great many mailboxes, I'll > restrain myself to pointing out a couple of invalid implicit > assumptions and near-lies. (Why am I posting this to the list? It's a > (probably hopeless) attempt to keep it from happening again.) Have you had a chance to use our OPEN LOOK 4.0? If you haven't, what are your comments based on? OL 4.0 is just now available in the source format. I don't believe you have had an opportunity to evaluate the above mentioned software. > > its OPEN LOOK(R) Graphical User Interface (GUI), already the > > easiest GUI to use, > > This is entirely a matter of opinion. I find that OL is nearly > unusable. Not everybody agrees with you as to what makes a GUI easy to > use, and indeed, the very thing that makes a GUI easy-to-use for one > user is often a major impediment for another. You are correct that assessments of GUI features can be a matter of opinion. Since this xpert forum is used frequently for expressing personal opinions, you are welcome to your own opinions, even if they are uninformed. Some human-factors studies (outside of AT&T and/or USL) showed that OPEN LOOK had the highest satisfaction ratings when compared against Presentation Manager and Motif. (The tested population was 50% professional, 50% clerical and secretarial). In addition, it took people 50% LESS time to learn OPEN LOOK than to learn Presentation Manager. So, indeed, ease of use is frequently a subjective opinion, but the claims about OPEN LOOK are backed up by formal human factors studies. What statistically valid studies do you have to back up your opinions? > (... skipped ...) > > `Completely' customizable? I have yet to see *any* GUI, other than the > one I designed and implemented myself, that can be customized to my > taste. (To pick a simple example: how do I get rid of the title bars?) You are correct that the press release overstates the case; an OPEN LOOK GUI will constrain user customizability to within the OPEN LOOK specification. > I would estimate that your posting could have been cut by a factor of > 2, probably 3, without impairing its information content. (If you want > me to demonstrate, mail me a copy and I'll mail back an edited-down > version.) The 50 to 70 percent I refer to may be appropriate in an > advertising glossy, or in biz.*, but surely not here. > > der Mouse > > old: mcgill-vision!mouse > new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu I'll respond privately to the comments in your mail because I don't think the public network is an appropriate forum for this type of "discussion." -- Charles Tsai UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. 190 River Road, Room 4-236 Summit, NJ 07901 voice: (908) 522-6681 fax: (908) 522-6602 e-mail: att!attunix!ytsai ytsai@attunix.att.com
jeenglis@alcor.usc.edu (Joe English Muffin) (12/18/90)
ytsai@attunix.att.COM writes: >article from der Mouse <mouse@lightning.McRCIM.McGill.EDU> writes: > > Please cut the marketing BS when posting to xpert. >I'm sorry if you found it inappropriate for this forum, but I simply >forwarded a press announcement without any modification. A press announcement IS inappropriate for xpert and comp.windows.x. >Some human-factors studies (outside of AT&T and/or USL) showed that >OPEN LOOK had the highest satisfaction ratings when compared against >Presentation Manager and Motif. (The tested population was 50% >professional, 50% clerical and secretarial). In addition, it took >people 50% LESS time to learn OPEN LOOK than to learn Presentation >Manager. So, indeed, ease of use is frequently a subjective opinion, >but the claims about OPEN LOOK are backed up by formal human factors >studies. What statistically valid studies do you have to back up >your opinions? There is no such thing as a ``statistically valid study'' which proves anything at all about such subjective factors as ease of use. (By the way, what field were the tested professionals in? It makes a big difference if they were professional programmers or, say, marketing professionals.) Also, ease of learning != ease of use. I've used Open Look applications and olwm (not 4.0, an earlier version) and yes, I did figure them out without any difficulty. But I would MUCH rather use twm because I can get it to work however I want it to. Sure, it's completely unintuitive that clicking control-meta-button1 inside a window iconifies it, and sure, it took a couple hours of manual-perusing to figure out how to get it to work that way, but that kind of functionality and configurability is a very important factor when it comes to ease of use. Maybe not to the average clerical or marketing type, but it is to many others. > > `Completely' customizable? I have yet to see *any* GUI, other than the > > one I designed and implemented myself, that can be customized to my > > taste. (To pick a simple example: how do I get rid of the title bars?) >You are correct that the press release overstates the case; an >OPEN LOOK GUI will constrain user customizability to within the >OPEN LOOK specification. Right. You can change the look and feel to anything you like, as long as it looks and feels like OPEN LOOK. And there's no reason to go outside the OPEN LOOK spec because it's the easiest to use -- a Reagan Administration study proved this. I don't buy it. --Joe English jeenglis@alcor.usc.edu
mouse@LIGHTNING.MCRCIM.MCGILL.EDU (12/18/90)
>>> Subject: GA of OPEN LOOK Release 4 (Product Announcement) >>> FOR RELEASE MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1990 >> Please cut the marketing BS when posting to xpert. > I'm sorry if you found it inappropriate for this forum, but I simply > forwarded a press announcement without any modification. Precisely. When the `press announcement' is this full of self-back-patting and (other) semantically null rhetoric, I consider it inappropriate for xpert. >> I refer to comments like [...] > Have you had a chance to use our OPEN LOOK 4.0? If you haven't, what > are your comments based on? Your posted `press announcement'. I am/was not criticizing OL; I am/was criticizing your posting. > Some human-factors studies (outside of AT&T and/or USL) showed that > OPEN LOOK had the highest satisfaction ratings when compared against > Presentation Manager and Motif. Well, if those were the only other choices, I might pick OL too. (*Might*, I say; I don't know.) I don't suppose any of these studies let the users design their own interfaces? No, of course not; everybody knows that one design team in California knows more about how thousands of users all over the world want their UIs to behave than the users themselves do. Besides, we all know that studies are like benchmarks - look hard enough and you can always find some that can be construed to support your case. If I cared enough to bother I would even write to the PM and Motif people and ask them about studies supporting their UIs as "the best". I doubt not they would gladly cite such.... der Mouse old: mcgill-vision!mouse new: mouse@larry.mcrcim.mcgill.edu
barnett@grymoire.crd.ge.com (Bruce Barnett) (12/18/90)
ytsai@attunix.att.COM writes: > Together, OPEN LOOK and XWIN GWS provide the ... In article <13744@chaph.usc.edu> jeenglis@alcor.usc.edu (Joe English Muffin) writes: > Also, ease of learning != ease of use. I've used Open Look > applications and olwm (not 4.0, an earlier version) and yes, I believe Joe, myself, and several others are confused here. Flame to AT&T: According to popular usage, OPEN LOOK is NOT a toolkit. There are at least five OPEN LOOK toolkits I have heard of, and calling your toolkit OPEN LOOK is confusing people. Sun calls it OLIT. -- Bruce G. Barnett barnett@crd.ge.com uunet!crdgw1!barnett
ytsai@attunix.att.COM (12/19/90)
Please forward your criticism/suggestion to ytsai@att.com. Here is not a public forum for the discussion. I respect the rights of all XPERT subscribers. If you are really bothered by the forwarded PA, please send me your complaint. If you think it is informative, please let me know also. If you are interested in the undergoing discussion between mouse, Joe and I, I would be very happy to put you in the CC list. Regards, -- Charles Tsai UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. 190 River Road, Room 4-236 Summit, NJ 07901 voice: (908) 522-6681 fax: (908) 522-6602 e-mail: att!attunix!ytsai ytsai@attunix.att.com