Open Software Foundation Announces User Environment

Open Software Foundation Announces User Environment

Interface Bridges Gap Between PC and UNIX-Based Worlds

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 11, 1989 -- PRNewswire -- The Open Software Foundation (OSF) today introduced OSF/Motif(tm), a user environment that will provide a familiar, stable interface to computing resources across multiple computing platforms. OSF/Motif is the first step in OSF's effort to deliver a single standard for a global open software environment for the benefit of users worldwide.

In addition, OSF today announced innovative licensing terms that will make it easy for hardware and software vendors to adopt and incorporate OSF/Motif into their product lines.

OSF/Motif is the culmination of OSF's industry-wide request for leadership interface technologies and an innovative open review process that solicited input from the industry and users. OSF/Motif answers the call from users for a common operating environment for UNIX(tm). Equally important, OSF/Motif provides users with a seamless transition from personal computers (PCs) to UNIX-based systems. OSF/Motif may be used on a variety of operating systems, including OSF/1, OSF's open operating environment, and UNIX System V.

"Our ability to introduce OSF/Motif today is a direct result of the open process," said David Tory, OSF president. "The industry and our members responded resoundingly to support the need for leadership in the interface area. Their concerted participation enabled OSF to announce this first offering on schedule -- less than nine months after our founding.

OSF/Motif is only the first of many open software technologies to be selected through this innovative, vendor-neutral industry-driven process," said Tory.

OSF/Motif is the combination of several leading interface technologies submitted to OSF by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) and jointly by Hewlett-Packard Company (HP) and Microsoft Corporation. OSF/Motif preserves the DEC toolkit Application Program Interface (API), includes many features of the HP API, and exhibits Presentation Manager behavior and 3D appearance, as provided by the joint HP/Microsoft submission.

These technologies are all based on The X Window System(tm).

OSF will also provide a complete documentation set -- including a style quide, based on the Presentation Manager compatibility guide submitted by HP/Microsoft -- and extended versions of the HP Window Manager and the DEC User Interface Language (UIL).

"By selecting and building on these de facto standards, OSF/Motif will enable users to easily adapt to the world of Unix," said John Paul, OSF's director of development. "This announcement is a perfect example of how we start with standards where they exist and implement on them to address modern user needs."

The specification of a standard user environment is necessary for UNIX-based systems to move successfully into commercial markets. Now, users of UNIX systems, from desktop workstations to mainframes, will have access to a consistent easy-to-use user interface -- one with true Presentation Manager behavior. Licenses Available Immediately

Snapshots -- interim source code -- of the user environment component will be available to member for license by the end of January, allowing them to begin integrating the technology into their products. The complete user environment component will be tested and ready to ship to the public by the third quarter of 1989. Pricing of the unbundled product falls into three categories of products -- source, binary, and run-time -- and two classes of customers -- commercial and educational. Source code licenses are available for $1,000 per unit. Binary licenses range from $40, to $16 per unit for volume shipments. And run-time licenses range from $10, to $4 per unit for volume shipment. University source licenses are available for $1,000 per site. The Open Process

In July 1988, OSF issued its first request for technology (RFT). Of the 39 responses, 23 conformed to the RFT's mandatory criteria. OSF members were given the opportunity to review all qualifying technologies in depth. In an unprecented industry exchange of information, 300 representatives of application providers, hardware vendors, universities and industry groups received presentations from the qualifying UEC submitters. These member representatives then set the specifications for OSF's UEC selection.

To make the decision, OSF assembled an evaluation team consisting of interface technology specialists, business and marketing specialists, and software technologies with skills in related areas, as well as a group of external consultants from industry and academia. The composition of the team ensured the highest level of independence and autonomy through every step of the review and selection process.

The Open Software Foundation is the first member-sponsored organization aimed at bringing global acceptance to a single standard for open software. OSF is developing, and will deliver by the second half of 1989, an open software environment with extensions and subsystems, using an innovative open process that solicits input and technologies from users and the industry.

Through its membership, OSF has a funding commitment of more than $120 million through 1991. Its initial development will be based on technologies offered by the industry as well as its own worldwide research efforts. OSF currently has more than 70 members from 12 countries.

---- NOTE: The X Window System is a trademark of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. UNIX is a trademark of AT&T. DEC is a registered trademark of Digital Equipment Corporation. Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

/CONTACT: Donna Ruane of OSF, 617-621-8772; or Janice Brown of Hill & Knowlton, Advanced Technology Division, 617-642-5907, for OSF/