bob@tinman.cis.ohio-state.edu (Bob Sutterfield) (08/25/89)
In article <15349@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU> brsmith@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU (Brian R. Smith) writes: Sun is also supposedly using Display PostScript for windows; I don't suppose there's any chance that.... Nah. I haven't seen any announcements from Sun regarding Display PostScript in windows. They're happy for now with NeWS, their PostScript-based window system. If DPS becomes a standard X extension, they might support it in their X11/NeWS server, but Sun's window technology is unrelated to DPS. In article <5590@ttidca.TTI.COM> hollombe@ttidca.TTI.COM (The Polymath) writes: "Nah" is right. According to the NeXT rep I talked to, Sun reverse engineered their Display PostScript and went their own way from there. It isn't and probably won't be compatible with NeXT displays. "Nah" is certainly right. What NeXT rep told you this? And why did you believe him or her? NeWS is a fresh implementation of PostScript. Sun made NeWS (actually, Gosling made SunDew) before Display PostScript existed. If NeWS' extensions (classes, lightweight processes, input primitives, etc. - just what was needed to make an interactive window system) didn't predate Display PostScript in the lab, then they at least certainly saw the light of day first. An accusation of reverse engineering is at least ill-informed, if not actively misleading. Generally, in the things that DPS does, NeWS is compatible. That is, the same PostScript image can be previewed on a NeWS screen just as it can on a NeXT screen. However, the two address different problems, and are two different products because they are two different solutions. That they are as compatible as they are is a testimony to the basic strength of the underlying PostScript language for this class of applications.