[comp.sys.3b1] NeWs stuff

root@morwyn.UUCP (System Administrator) (06/26/91)

Does anyone know what NeWs is, and is it something that would apply to the 3b1?

Thanks ...

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bdb@becker.UUCP (Bruce D. Becker) (06/27/91)

In article <131@morwyn.UUCP> root@morwyn.UUCP (System Administrator) writes:
|Does anyone know what NeWs is, and is it something that would apply to the 3b1?


	NeWS is a propretary product of Sun Microsystems,
	and is somewhat similar in functionality to MGR
	or X.

	It differs in that it is based on Sun's RPC/XDR
	remote procedure call/external data representation
	software (source is freeware), and uses an extended
	version of Postscript as the means of communication.
	The language is interactive, multi-threaded, and
	object-oriented - things are set up so that the
	local server can be programmed by the remote client
	so that hi-level functions can be performed on its
	behalf, thus potentially optimizing client-server
	traffic greatly.

	Another problem besides its proprietary nature is the
	relatively poor resolution of the screen, and the lack
	of any grey scale. This is a lesser complaint, however;
	the architectural concepts as a whole are what's really
	interesting. These could be cloned or emulated, perhaps
	even as an addition to MGR or something similar (thus
	benefitting many other venues besides the 3B1).


	IMHO, Sun screwed up royally w/respect to this system;
	It was available before X & it was architecturally
	superior (they actually implemented an X server in
	Postscript as a demo).  Had they made it into freeware,
	the entire history of unix windows may well have gone
	another way. I'd even venture to surmise that the
	politics surrounding AT&T's using Sun for System V
	Release 4 would have been different as well, and that
	OSF might well have been nowhere near as politically
	viable a concept as it actually later became.


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