Gone are the graphical user interface wars – bring on the pick n’mix counter. According to X/Open Co Ltd’s world survey, interoperability across heterogeneous systems and networks is now the key priority for users. The graphical user interface, which took number one spot in 1990, is down to to number six, with Microsoft Corp Windows and the Open Software Foundation’s Motif emerging as the leading options, it says. Full results will be published this month in X/Open’s Open Systems Directive. The standards body says that this year should see the first adoption of some of its open systems specifications by international standards organisations such as IEEE and the International Standards Organisation. This year also sees the launch of its XPG4 portability guide, which will include more from the Common Application Environment, and is likely to specify things like support for international languages.Ironically, now that the group is pulling out, X/Open may also, under pressure from its Xtra user requirements process, be about to endorse the bulk of the Open Software Foundation’s Distributed Computing Environment in its specification for distributed systems. X/Open says it is not talking to anyone else. X/Open, which was set to lose the Foundation, NCR Corp, Prime Computer Inc and Nokia Data from its board of directors at the end of last year for one reason or another, says it hasn’t yet lined up anyone to fill the gaps. The problem is that money in the industry is tight, and the reported cost of membership – around $1m a year – plus the required size and turnover for qualification, rules many potentials, like Santa Cruz Operation, out of the running. Microsoft or Apple Computer would certainly fit the bill, and be a large feather in its cap, it admits, but there are no indications of anyone of this stature coming on board. It claims not to be worried about the hole left in its wallet by the defections, saying it has been pulling the purse strings tight anyway.
