The non-profit X/Open Group Ltd has responded to the announcement by AT&T Co and Sun Microsystems of their Open Look Unix graphics user interface by saying that it is a clear candidate as an alternative to the IBM-Microsoft Presentation Manager, which previously had appeared to be the heavily backed industry favourite. Particularly relevant, in view of the lawsuits flying back and forth between Apple and Microsoft, is that Open Look interfaces should be available in the public domain. In addition, the product is likely to appear in a similar timescale to that promised by Microsoft for Presentation Manager. The Unix applications standards group is holding back on a decision on which standard interface it will adopt until it has had a chance to have a good hard look at Open Look.
