---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash SunSoft Shipping First Components Of Solaris 2.0 SunFLASH Vol 35 #2 November 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SunSoft, a Sun Microsystems, Inc. business, today introduced the first shipping components of Solaris 2.0: OpenWindows Version 3, DeskSet Version 3 and Developer's Guide 3.0. The press release is attached for your reference. Please note: OpenWindows Version 3 (including Deskset V3) is currently on the SMCC price list and is available immediately. o Open Windows Version 3 (OWV3) on SunOS 4.1.1 - Open Windows Version 3 with Deskset V3 (OWV3) is available immediately to SMCC's customers as an unbundled product for SunOS 4.1.1. o OWV3 on SunOS 4.1.2 - OWV3 will be co-packaged with SunOS 4.1.2 media at no additional cost. OWV3 end-user documentation will be co-packaged with the SunOS 4.1.2 Release Minibox. (OpenWindows Version 2 will remain the default windowing system shipped on SunOS 4.1.2 to help customers facilitate a smooth upgrade to SunOS 4.1.2 and OWV3.) - Customers on SMCC SPARC operating system support will get OWV3 automatically as part of their OS support contract. OWV3 will be distributed to supported customers during the next several weeks. o Developer's Guide 3.0 - SMCC will be announcing the details of availability to SMCC's customers of Developers Guide 3.0 in mid November l991. Watch SunFlash for further details. o Application compatibility - Most of today's OWV2 applications will run without change on OWV3. Some OWV2 applications, developed under certain conditions, will currently be incompatible with OWV3. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SUNSOFT SHIPPING FIRST COMPONENTS OF SOLARIS 2.0 Provides Migration Path From Solaris 1.0 To Solaris 2.0 Oracle, Frame, Informix, Others Announce Support UNIX EXPO, --October 30, 1991-- SunSoft today announced it has begun volume shipments of the first two components of its Solaris 2.0 distributed computing solution: the OpenWindows Version 3 application development environment and DeskSet Version 3 multimedia desktop metaphor. Available immediately for SunSoft's Solaris 1.0 solution, the new OpenWindows and DeskSet components give users elements of the next-generation Solaris and allow software developers to create applications that easily migrate to the Solaris 2.0 solution. Several software developers including, ORACLE, Cadence Design Systems, Informix and SAS Institute announced plans to use OpenWindows Version 3 and Desk Set Version 3 in their migration to the Solaris 2.0 solution. Software developers, including Frame and Interleaf, demonstrated applications here today that incorporate the Open Windows and DeskSet components for migration to Solaris 2.0. In addition, more than 800 software developers are evaluating the components. SunSoft also announced that it will ship an enhanced user interface builder for the Solaris 2.0 distributed computing solution, called OpenWindows Developer's Guide 3.0, in December. The product, available for the Solaris 1.0 software, allows developers to visually design interfaces using objects without writing a single line of code. This signif icantly reduces development time and costs while ensuring a common OPEN LOOK interface for applications developed for the Solaris solution. "Today, we are giving users and developers their first access to the next-generation Solaris 2.0," said Bill Larson, vice president of sales and marketing at SunSoft. "With OpenWindows and DeskSet, we empower the developer with everything needed to cre ate tomorrow's applications today." Software applications written using the OpenWindows and DeskSet components for Solaris 1.0 on the SPARC platform are source compatible with the Solaris 2.0 solution running on SPARC, enabling developers to move their applications with a simple recompilation. In addition, the Solaris 2.0 solution for the SPARC and Intel platforms will be source code compatible, allowing developers to create one application today that will run on both hardware architectures. OPENWINDOWS VERSION 3: Tomorrow's Applications Today The new OpenWindows Version 3 (OWV3) is a graphical, network-extensible win dow application development environment for the Solaris solution. It provides develop ers with the technologies and products needed to speed software development and create networked, windowed applications that are easier to use and adapted for the interna tional market. Developers can create programs that are localized for different countries and customize the desktop according to country-specific icons, providing users with a simple desktop metaphor within a local context. In addition, OWV3 supports 24-bit color, enabling developers to display 16 million colors and to show 3D-rendering on the screen. OWV3 is based on X11/NeWS -- a merge of X11, the industry's most widely adopted network-based windowing technology, and the NeWS programmable user input/output environment based on PostScript. This allows developers to create WYSI WYG -- what you see is what you get -- applications that run across the network. OWV3 provides developers with a robust environment for creating applications that support a range of markets. The new environment incorporates three object-oriented OPEN LOOK toolkits that offer support for multiple languages, graphics and application interoperability. This assures developers that their applications will be integrated with other vendors' software and allows them to speed up application development for inter national markets. The OPEN LOOK Intrinsics Toolkit (OLIT) offers a programming inter face based on the MIT Xt Intrinsics definition. The NeWS Toolkit (TNT) offers tightly integrated imaging in the PostScript language. The XView Toolkit allows applications to move from the SunView? interface to the OPEN LOOK interface. A key feature in OWV3 is SunSoft's ToolTalk interapplication communication solution which allows developers to create next-generation object-oriented software applications. ToolTalk helps developers move toward Project DOE (distributed objects everywhere), SunSoft's vision of a new computing paradigm where modular applications are created with distributed objects as their foundation to interoperate across multiple platforms. In addition, OWV3 is tightly integrated with several graphics APIs (application programming interface), including the SunPHIGS, SunGKS, XGL and Xlib products, to enable developers to leverage high-performance graphics features into their applications. DESKSET VERSION 3: So Easy, It Can't Be UNIX The new DeskSet Version 3 offers users network resources on the desktop through the intuitive 3-D OPEN LOOK graphical user interface. Users can, with the click of a mouse, perform sophisticated tasks across an array of networked computers. Many of the new and enhanced applications in DeskSet allow users to work in teams, collaborating on the same project while using different applications. It also let users exchange information across the network, a user simply points, clicks and drags the file from an application and drops its onto the Print Tool. These new and enhanced applications include Workgroup Calendar Manager, Multimedia Mail, Audio Tool, Network File Manager and Magnify Help. The Workgroup Calendar Manager enables users to schedule appointments by accessing colleagues' calendars simultaneously across the world. Multimedia Mail offers users the ability to attach text, graphics, sound, and video to mail messages and send them across networks. The new Audio Tool enables users to record and play back sounds, as well as make, edit and listen to voice messages sent through Multimedia Mail. The new Network File Manager features an easy-to-use and consistent graphical front end, allowing users to represent files on the screen and access them anywhere on the network with a simple point and click of the mouse. Magnify Help provides users with immediate help on the screen. Users need only click on a specification to get a brief help message. For more help, users can access the help handbooks that provide on-line details on the use of a specific icon or application. In addi tion, users can access a hypertext-based on-line tutorial to walk through the Solaris environment. DEVELOPER'S GUIDE 3.0: "Point and Click" Programming SunSoft's Developer's Guide allows programmers to create complex software with simple point and click commands. Developers Guide offers several ease-of-development features that allow developers to concentrate on increasing software functionality and creating enhanced interface designs rather than spend time on the writing and debugging of program interface code. Developers Guide takes a programmer's input and automatically generates code for each of the three OPEN LOOK toolkits within the OpenWindows environment. This is entirely invisible to the programmer. In addition, Developers Guide allows program mers to create applications that are integrated with the DeskSet component, not only in look and feel, but also in interoperability, thereby providing users with a consistent and easy-to-use desktop. PRICING The OpenWindows Version 3 and DeskSet Version 3 components are available as a single package on a compact disc. These components will be included as a part of the Solaris 1.0 solution, effective in December. Current customers of Solaris 1.0 can upgrade to the OpenWindows Version 3 and DeskSet Version 3 with a right-to-use license of $30. The products with media and end user documentation are available at $125. Developers Guide is priced at $895 with media and developer documentation. Inquiries from computer system manufacturers should be directed to SunSoft at 1-800-227-9227. End user inquiries should be directed to their respective Solaris computer system supplier. SunSoft, Inc., headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., is a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems, Inc. The company is the leading worldwide supplier of system software solutions for distributed computing. SunSoft's products are targeted at software develop ers, systems administrators and end users, and are licensed by SunSoft and sold through major computer system manufacturers and VARs (value added resellers) worldwide. ### 1991 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, SunSoft, NeWS, Solaris, OpenWindows, ToolTalk, XView, X11/NeWS, SunView and DeskSet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. SPARC is a registered trademark of SPARC International, Inc. OPEN LOOK and UNIX are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Press Information: Shernaz Daver SunSoft, Inc. (415) 336-0678 Emily Wanderer Hi-Tech Public Relations, Inc. (415) 864-5600 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ For information send mail to info-sunflash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. Archives are on solar.nova.edu and paris.cs.miami.edu. All prices, availability, and other statements relating to Sun or third party products are valid in the U.S. only. Please contact your local Sales Representative for details of pricing and product availability in your region. Descriptions of, or references to products or publications within SunFlash does not imply an endorsement of that product or publication by Sun Microsystems. John McLaughlin, SunFlash editor, flash@sunvice.East.Sun.COM. (305) 776-7770.