SUN UNVEILS COMPREHENSIVE USER INTERFACE DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Introduces New XView Toolkit, Suite of Desktop Productivity Applications


SAN FRANCISCO   February 28, 1989   At UniForum '89 being held here,
Sun Microsystems today unveiled a migration path to the OPEN LOOK TM
graphical user interface and X11 window standard.  Sun's solution is
called OpenWindows TM , an application environment that includes OPEN
LOOK, X11/NeWS and the new XView TM  toolkit, introduced today.  XView
is the next generation of the SunView TM  toolkit, available since
1985.  XView implements OPEN LOOK on X11.

The nearly 1,000 developers who have released more than 2,100
applications on SunView now have an easy way of bringing their
applications to OPEN LOOK and X11 without re-implementation.

Sun also introduced a suite of desktop productivity applications called
SunWrite TM , SunPaint TM  and SunDraw TM that are based on the OPEN
LOOK specification.  These tools give users a low-cost, window-based
solution for easily preparing WYSIWYG documents on a workstation.


OpenWindows Utilizes Existing Software

This simple, consistent graphical user interface was developed by Sun
and AT&T under license from Xerox.  It has already been endorsed by
more than 100 independent software vendors, many of whom have started
porting applications to it.

Sun's new XView toolkit will enable developers to create applications
that use the OPEN LOOK specification.  XView gives the OpenWindows
environment a major advantage over other X-based solutions, which will
initially lack a large number of applications.  Sun is providing XView
to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for release as part
of its X source code tape.  Thus XView will be available without
restriction so that applications can meet the OPEN LOOK specification.

OpenWindows demonstrates Sun's commitment to serve the X community by
delivering a stable, mature toolkit and a powerful, full-featured
window system.  X11/NeWS strongly supports both MIT's X11 windowing
protocol and the PostScript TM  language technology built into NeWS.
There are now 66 licensees of NeWS.

"We believe the OpenWindows strategy is the best way to enhance our
customers' existing investments in Sun windowing technology while still
supporting industry standards," said Scott McNealy, president and CEO
of Sun. "One of our goals is to ensure that a truly open windowing
solution is available to everyone," he added.

Also announced today were efforts to produce specifications for Kanji
features for OPEN LOOK and a Kanji version of XView.  Sun is working
with several leading Japanese computer vendors to this end.

Availability

Specifications of the OpenWindows technology are freely available now,
including OPEN LOOK, XView and X11/NeWS documentation.  A limited
number of evaluation copies of OpenWindows are available now, a release
to developers will occur in the spring, and full availability is
scheduled for July, 1989.

New Productivity Tools Demonstrate OPEN LOOK

SunWrite, SunPaint and SunDraw are early examples of products based on
the OPEN LOOK specification.  They enhance workstation functionality by
enabling users to create documents within windows on their screen while
also running compute-intensive engineering or scientific applications.
This eliminates any need for purchasing a personal computer for desktop
productivity applications.

Offering the same look and feel, SunWrite, SunPaint and SunDraw are
user friendly, with common menus, pop-up windows and point-and-click
mouse controls.

These modular productivity tools allow files to be imported between all
three applications in different windows.  Text and images can also be
saved to a common clipboard and then integrated into documents later.
Information from other applications can be captured and pasted into a
document being produced in SunWrite, SunPaint or SunDraw.  The
applications support any PostScript output device.

Pricing and Availability

SunWrite, SunPaint and SunDraw are based on core technology developed
by Island Graphics Corp. of San Rafael, Calif.  These products will be
sold through Sun's direct sales force.  SunWrite is priced at $695,
while SunPaint and SunDraw are each priced at $495.  The three packages
can be purchased together for $995.  Volume discounts are available.

Sun's new suite of desktop tools runs on: the 680x0-based Sun-3 TM ;
the Sun386i TM , which utilizes the 80386 microprocessor and runs both
UNIX and DOS applications; and the SPARC TM -based Sun-4 TM .


Sun Microsystems, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is one
of the world's leading suppliers of network-based distributed computing
systems, including professional workstations, servers and UNIX
operating system and productivity software.

Press Contact:  Cathleen Beall Garfield (415) 336-6536