rogern@SUN.COM (Roger Nolan) (12/08/89)
Rick,
The status of OpenWindows (and the X11/NeWS merge) was until recently
"on hold." The production problems that we had been facing have been
solved and the full OpenWindows product is now shipping. You may
experience some delays because we now have a large backlog of orders
for this product, but it is shipping.
Most developers who have OpenWindows at this point are working with
beta copies of the software. That is probably what you are seeing at
the company you consult with.
You should order OpenWindows through your local sales rep. Full media
and documentation costs $295. The RTU is free with every Sun system
sold.
The OpenWindows announcement included the following;
o Merged X11/NeWS window server (included new scalable font technology)
o XView toolkit. This has a similar API to SunView and implements
an OPEN LOOK look&feel on X Windows.
o the NeWS "experimental" toolkit. This is not an officially announced
or supported product. The experimental toolkit is there for
developers to try and comment on.
o OpenWindows Deskset. This included OPEN LOOK implementations of
desktop applications such as: a graphical file manager, text editor,
mail tool, clock, performance meter, snapshot tool, icon editor,
binder and wastebasket.
At the same time we announced OpenWindows, we also announced OpenWindows
Developers Guide. This is a graphical and interractive user interface
builder. It will allow a developer to lay out an XView OPEN LOOK user
interface by dragging and dropping user interface objects. OpenWindows
Developers Guide is expected to ship in March and has been priced at
$250.
Please feel free to contact us if you have any other questions.
Roger Nolan
Product Marketing Manager
Sun Microsystems
----- Begin Included Message -----
>From NeWS-makers-request@cs.UMD.EDU Mon Nov 20 12:42:13 1989
To: NeWS-makers@brillig.umd.edu
Subject: getting NeWS/X11 for universities
Ok, we've been had. According to our local sales rep news/x11 merge is
"on hold", but clearly other people in this newsgroup seem to have
it. What is the trick? I have access to the stuff through a local
company I consult with, but would like to arrange access for the
university. Who do I call and what will it cost? What other goodies
are available, eg OpenLook, interface builders, etc?
Rick Spanbauer
State U of NY/Stony Brook
----- End Included Message -----rws@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Bob Scheifler) (12/08/89)
You should order OpenWindows through your local sales rep. We tried, and our sales rep told us we couldn't get it yet. We could come by the sales office and try it out, but that's all right now. We could order it, but it couldn't be shipped yet. He said they don't have enough support personnel to have more than a certain number of copies sold, and I guess his quota had been exceeded. Nobody at MIT has the product yet, and I guess nobody will for a while ...
moraes@csri.toronto.edu (Mark Moraes) (12/10/89)
rogern@SUN.COM (Roger Nolan) writes: >The status of OpenWindows (and the X11/NeWS merge) was until recently >"on hold." How recently did it stop being "on hold"? One site at UofT has an OpenWindows FCS tape for the Sun3. (it arrived last week when someone from Sun gave us a talk on X11/NeWS) At the talk, they said that it was a developers release: one had to send them a letter stating reasons for ordering X11/NeWS (we're kinky, ok? we like to buy window systems so we can use up more disk space...) and that had to be approved by "higher-ups". A small quota was also mentioned, "for support reasons". None of this is mentioned in the glossies... About this RTU: Is it legal if we make copies of X11/NeWS for all Suns on campus from the one site that has the tape? (Well, make that all Suns that want it -- that server is *BIG*) For all Suns not on campus -- say at neighbouring Universities etc? If so, maybe Sun could allow someone to stuff the thing on the SEXtape or SUGtape? Or a set of binaries for anonymous ftp? Think of the netnews volume in "Has anyone seen X11/NeWS" requests this would save? Much of the documentation consists of books that one can get from a local bookstore -- the books on X been in our lab for several months now, and the red/blue PostScript books for several years... Oh well -- we'll just wait for X.V11R4 release, promised "this yearish". All I want is a fast Sun colour X server; I suspect I'm not alone in that desire. (monochrome X11 has been running on our Sun3/[56]0s for well over a year and a half as the de facto standard windowing system -- our users seem to like it)
salzman%iris@RAND.ORG (Isaac) (12/11/89)
>You should order OpenWindows through your local sales rep. >We tried, and our sales rep told us we couldn't get it yet. We could come by >the sales office and try it out, but that's all right now. We could order it, >but it couldn't be shipped yet. He said they don't have enough support >personnel to have more than a certain number of copies sold, and I guess his >quota had been exceeded. Nobody at MIT has the product yet, and I guess nobody >will for a while ... you're sales rep has no clue! i've been running OpenWindows 1.0 for about 2 months now (sparc version). talk to one of the SE's, you may have better luck. that's basically the route i took. i borrowed the tape from sun and copied it. the right to use liscense is part of sunos (i.e., it's free), so there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to copy it from someone. but don't quote me on that! :-) but hey, it exists, and it's good stuff!! -- * Isaac J. Salzman ---- * The RAND Corporation - Information Sciences Dept. /o o/ / * 1700 Main St., PO Box 2138, Santa Monica, CA 90406-2138 | v | | * AT&T : +1 213-393-0411 x6421 or x7923 (ISL lab) _| |_/ * Internet : salzman@rand.org / | | * UUCP : !uunet!rand.org!salzman | | |
salzman%iris@RAND.ORG (Isaac Salzman) (12/12/89)
>you're sales rep has no clue! i've been running OpenWindows 1.0 for about >2 months now (sparc version). talk to one of the SE's, you may have >better luck. that's basically the route i took. i borrowed the tape from >sun and copied it. the right to use liscense is part of sunos (i.e., it's >free), so there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to copy it from >someone. but don't quote me on that! :-) but hey, it exists, and it's good >stuff!! big time apology here. i was wrong - we are not running OpenWindows 1.0, we are still running pre-FCS. we signed up for a pre-release "special", which is the only reason we have OpenWindows. i was under the false impression that the post-beta2 version i received was the release version, but i'm wrong. so don't go calling your SE's bugging them about a tape. from the SUG conference I found out that OpenWindows is not what they call an "FCS" product, but a "developers release". i don't know what that means. you'll have to talk to your sales rep to find out the details. sorry for the confusion. i hope i didn't cause anyone too much heartache. even if i'm not running 1.0, it's still good stuff!! -isaac (salzman@rand.org)
montnaro@spyder.crd.ge.com (Skip Montanaro) (12/12/89)
In article <8912112136.AA23707@iris.rand.org> salzman%iris@RAND.ORG (Isaac Salzman) writes:
so don't go calling your SE's bugging them about a tape.
I disagree. Check with your local SE. Our office has OpenWindows now. Yours
should be able to get it.
--
Skip (montanaro@crdgw1.ge.com)ittai@shemesh.GBA.NYU.EDU (Ittai Hershman) (12/13/89)
OpenWindows 1.0 is shipping. Delays are due to concern about support; they are quite sensibly staggering shipments based on the support they are able to give. They also seem to be working with the local SE's to prioritize shipment to customers who are known quantities support-wise. There seems to be a lot of mis-information, so I typed in the following from the "READ THIS FIRST" document: Even though OpenWindows 1.0 is very stable, this release is positioned as a developer's release to send the message that OpenWindows is not yet suitable as a SunView replacement for all current Sun customers. Some users, particularly those with large-memory machines (more than 8Mb), may be happy with OpenWindows 1.0 performance. Other users, such as those with eight megabytes of memory, may not be happy with OpenWindows 1.0 if they expect the same level of responsiveness as they are now used to with SunView. OpenWindows 1.0 is not recommended at all for configurations with less than 8mb. Existing performance problems in limited memory machines are well understood and will be addressed in an upcoming release. There is no further discussion of performance later in this document. The OpenWindows Developer's Release can be ordered for all three architectures. We recommend SPARC platforms for the performance required by a network-based window system. -Ittai
laukee@canon.UUCP (12/17/89)
>>sun and copied it. the right to use liscense is part of sunos (i.e., it's >>free), so there's no reason that you shouldn't be able to copy it from Maybe this will be the case when OpenWindows starts shipping as a part of SunOS... the licence we got with our FCS/developer's release/whatever explicitly says that we can run it on the "Designated Equipment" which "means an equipment configuration comprising a single Sun central processing unit and associated equipment". Then again, if it is meant as a developer's release are we really expected to have a team of people all "developing" on the same cpu? I guess they just want to cover their backs (fair enough), maybe they wouldn't worry too much about inter-group "backups" and "testing" on other cpus... but perhaps a SUG tape might be stretching it a bit! Also, a contact at Solbourne indicates that they haven't (and won't) be licensing the merge, so no running it on their cpus! Anyone from Sun care to comment? >>someone. but don't quote me on that! :-) but hey, it exists, and it's good >>stuff!! Yes it does exist, there are a few bugs, some nasty, some just silly, but it's basically sound, and the documentation is streets ahead of previous Sun stuff. The NeWS side can be a little pedestrian, but the X side fairly flies (even in colour). As for accessibility, what you do is put in a big order, say a couple of 4/390s and a dozen or so 4/60s, make the order dependent upon receipt of the merge, and presto! -- David -------- Canon Research Centre Europe, 17/20 Frederick Sanger Rd, Surrey Research Park, Guildford, Surrey, GU25YD, UK. NRS: laukee@uk.co.canon, ARPA: laukee%canon@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk UUCP: laukee@canon.uucp, PATH: ..!mcsun!ukc!uos-ee!canon!laukee Tel: +44 (0) 483 574325 Fax: +44 (0) 483 574360