anantha%ravi@Sun.COM (Anantha Srirama) (05/11/89)
A while back Bell Communcation Research (bellcore) posted a window manager called 'mgr'. I use it everyday and think it is really nice. I haven't seen any talk/discussion about this window manager in any of the comp.windows or comp.sources news group. Does anybody out there have anything to say about this?? -Anantha-
trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey ) (05/12/89)
In article <104192@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> anantha%ravi@Sun.COM (Anantha Srirama) writes: >A while back Bell Communcation Research (bellcore) posted a window manager >called 'mgr'. I use it everyday and think it is really nice. I haven't >seen any talk/discussion about this window manager in any of the comp.windows >or comp.sources news group. Does anybody out there have anything to say about >this?? I used it a lot, too (back when I had access to a Sun.) I added limited support to my folding editor for MGR and sent a copy to the author of MGR, but haven't heard anything since. Since I no longer have access to a Sun, does anyone out there who uses MGR want to do a quick test compile of my editor? I just want to make sure that my #ifdef MGR stuff is still up to date and functional before I release the code. -Todd Burkey pwcs!stag!trb (Trying the computer one last time, Worf snarls "We are out of Control, Data!")
david@ics.COM (David B. Lewis) (05/16/89)
In article <819@stag.UUCP<, trb@stag.UUCP ( Todd Burkey ) writes: < In article <104192@sun.Eng.Sun.COM< anantha%ravi@Sun.COM (Anantha Srirama) writes: < <A while back Bell Communcation Research (bellcore) posted a window manager < <called 'mgr'. I use it everyday and think it is really nice. I haven't < <seen any talk/discussion about this window manager in any of the comp.windows < <or comp.sources news group. Does anybody out there have anything to say about < <this?? < < I used it a lot, too (back when I had access to a Sun.) I added < limited support to my folding editor for MGR and sent a copy to the < author of MGR, but haven't heard anything since. Since I no longer < have access to a Sun, does anyone out there who uses MGR want to do < a quick test compile of my editor? I just want to make sure that my < #ifdef MGR stuff is still up to date and functional before I release < the code. The last I heard from people at Bellcore was that the fellow who did MGR a few years back (in his spare time, as I recall) has since moved on to other things. The Bellcore folks are facing internal support problems and are considering moving on to other things (X, especially). None of this is firm. -- David B. Lewis david@ics.com ics!david@buita.bu.edu david%ics.UUCP@buita.bu.edu
daniel@wind.bellcore.com (Daniel W Nachbar) (05/16/89)
In article <518@ics.COM> david@ics.COM (David B. Lewis) writes: >The last I heard from people at Bellcore was that the fellow who did >MGR a few years back (in his spare time, as I recall) has since moved >on to other things. The Bellcore folks are facing internal support >problems and are considering moving on to other things (X, especially). > >None of this is firm. steve uhler, mgr's author, is out of town for a while. so, i'll give a brief response for him. mgr was the main focus of steve's work for a couple of years. (he's a very good programmer, but nobody produces that much work in their spare time.) mgr still has a fairly large following here in bellcore's research divisions. to some degree, steve has moved onto other work (everybody gets bored eventually) but he is still doing some very interesting work on window related issues. some of his recent results are very useful and simply can't be replicated on X. (sorry to tease, but i'll have to leave it at that until he gets back to explain himself.) but lets face it, X is the mainstream window manager and bellcore lives in the same political world as everyone else. we are all faced with the sorry choice of using a superior technology or a more widely supported one. to my endless regret, our development organization has decided to follow the pack rather than lead it. (sigh). and, many of the folks in our research area are using X because they rightly believe that doing so will make it easier for them to share their work with colleagues that work elsewhere. since mgr was distributed via comp.sources a couple of months ago it has developed a cult following in several places outside bellcore. (we don't know how many, but steve keeps getting mail from previously unknown users.) my personal hope is that mgr will serve as a better platform for research and will eventually develop enough functional advantages to outweigh its political disadvantages. but it is a slim hope. the paralysis that has struck the evolution of operating systems since unix become a "standard" is already hitting the window manager business. but, mgr lives and will probably continue to live (at least here) for a long time. Dan Nachbar Software Engineering Research Group Bell Communications Research (a.k.a. BELLCORE) Morristown, NJ daniel@bellcore.com, bellcore!daniel