X Consortium to Transfer X Window System(tm) to The Open Group

Cambridge, Massachusetts - July 1, 1996 - X Consortium, Inc. today announced that it would transfer responsibility for the X Window System to The Open Group at the beginning of next year. "X is now mainstream technology, and since the first commercial release in 1986 it has matured to the point where a dedicated consortium is no longer essential to its on-going support," explains Robert W. Scheifler, president of the X Consortium. "Our industry will benefit greatly by continuing and accelerating the convergence of X, Motif and the Common Desktop Environment (CDE) into a unified technology stack. This is already well underway with the current CDE-Motif PST project, operating under the auspices of The Open Group, an organization that is well positioned to take this technology into the future." The Open Group will continue their existing work of publishing, testing and branding products which conform to international standards, including X.

"As a long standing partner with the X Consortium in the Open Systems industry, The Open Group supports this decision. On a personal note, I want to add that the computer industry owes an enormous debt of gratitude to Bob Scheifler and the X Consortium for the service they have provided for the last eight years," commented Jim Bell, CEO of The Open Group. "Their very positive impact on our industry will continue to be felt for years to come."

As part of this change, X Consortium plans to wind down all engineering operations at the end of this year. "I have made a commitment to our members, and to the sponsors of the CDE-Motif project, to oversee the entire transition process from now until our current engineering projects are finished and the hand-off is complete," said Scheifler. The X Consortium will work with its members and The Open Group to determine whether the organization should continue on in some reduced fashion.

Broadway, the code name for the next release of the X Window System, will be completed as planned by the end of the year, and will be made freely available to the public under the same terms as previous X Consortium releases. Broadway enables interactive UNIX and Windows applications to be integrated, unmodified, into HTML documents and published on World Wide Web servers, using plug-in technology, and includes network protocols for graphics and audio to provide remote access to those applications from inside Web browsers. The Broadway release is expected to be available from current sources, including worldwide ftp sites and CDROM distributors.

The X Consortium will fulfill its obligations as prime contractor in The Open Group's Pre-Structured Technology (PST) project developing the next release of CDE and Motif. "The plan has always been to complete both the CDE-Motif project and Broadway by the end of this year," says Jim Fournier, Director of Engineering. "We are confident in our ability to deliver as planned."

About the X Consortium

Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, X Consortium, Inc. is a not-for-profit industry consortium developing user interface standards and graphics technology with over sixty members worldwide. Founded in 1993 as successor to the MIT X Consortium, the X Consortium enhances and maintains the X Window System. In 1995, the X Consortium was named prime contractor for development of the next release of CDE and Motif.

X Window System is a trademark of X Consortium, Inc.
Motif is a registered trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc.
The Open Group is a trademark of the Open Software Foundation, Inc. and X/Open Company Ltd.
All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

The Open Group Continues to Expand Product and Services Portfolio

Leading Open Systems Consortium Absorbs X Window System Technology

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusettes (July 1, 1996) - The Open Group announced today as an addition to its growing portfolio of products and services, it will assume custodianship for the X Window System technology, currently owned and managed by the X Consortium. In its press release today, the X Consortium also declared that it will continue to fulfill its obligations as prime contractor in The Open Group CDE Pre- Structured Technology (PST) project, developing the next releases of CDE and Motif, scheduled to be completed by year end, and then cease its internal engineering operations.

"Since its first commercial release in 1986, the X Window System has matured to the point where a full-scale, dedicated consortium is no longer essential to the on-going support of the technology," said Robert W. Scheifler,X Consortium president and founder. "In light of our existing relationship it makes sense to fold our ongoing work into The Open Group. Furthermore, given the overlapping membership of the two organizations, this move will greatly streamline and enhance the process of defining open standards."

Formed in February 1996 by the merger of X/Open and Open Software Foundation, The Open Group was created to provide a more powerful organization to strengthen and streamline the development process and availability of open systems. The Open Group provides a focal point for the development of standard international specifications and test suites, standards-based technologies, advanced open-systems research, professional services and the management of an internationally recognized brand for open systems.

"Our mission is to make multi-vendor open systems the customers' choice for the delivery of the right information, to the right person, at the right time," said Jim Bell, CEO of The Open Group. "We are able to do this by offering a comprehensive portfolio of open-systems tools and services. Today's announcement takes The Open Group another step closer towards uniting the open systems industry."

X Consortium

The X Consortium is the successor to the MIT X Consortium and developed the X Window System, an important standard for computing interoperability.

The Open Group

Dedicated to the advancement of multi-vendor information systems, The Open Group is an international consortium of systems and software vendors and customers from industry, government, and academia. Under the umbrella of The Open Group, Open Software Foundation, Inc. (OSF) and X/Open Company Ltd. (X/Open) work together to deliver technology innovations and wide-scale adoption of open-systems specifications. OSF hosts industry-wide, collaborative software research and development for the distributed computing environment. X/Open Company's brand mark is recognized worldwide as a guarantee of compliance to open-systems specifications. The Open Group is headquartered in Cambridge, MA, with European headquarters in Reading, England and offices in Menlo Park, CA; Washington, D.C.; Brussels, Belgium; Grenoble, France and Tokyo, Japan.

© 1996 , The Open Group. All rights reserved.

Open Software Foundation, OSF, the OSF logo, OSF/1, OSF/Motif and Motif are registered trademarks of Open Software Foundation, Inc. X/Open is a registered trademark and the "X" device is a trademark of X/Open Company Ltd. The Open Group is a trademark of Open Software Foundation, Inc. and X/Open Company Ltd. UNIX is a registered trademark in the US and other countries, licensed exclusively through X/Open Company Ltd. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.