More than two years on, the Common Open Software Environment’s promise of a common graphical user interface for Unix looks a little distressed. But who cares any longer that only IBM Corp has a default implementation of the Common Desktop Environment for its Unix; that Hewlett-Packard Co and SunSoft Inc have delayed plans to offer the interface as the default one any time soon in favour of pre-Common Open Software Environment VUE and Open Look front-ends – although they offer Common Desktop options; that it’s anyone’s guess when Novell Inc will get around to offering the thing as standard? Common Open latecomer Digital Equipment Corp said it will have a default Common Desktop on Digital Unix release sometime early next year, while hanger-on Santa Cruz Operation Inc said Common Desktop will be an option. While the interface isn’t likely to increase sales of Unix as a desktop system, these companies had intended for it to provide some degree of Unixification against Windows NT, plus facilitating the transfer of applications, and a common look and feel. Even where the interface is being implemented, each vendor has its own particular implementation. Users and independent software vendors, with a bunch of different Unixes to support, do care, according to Carlsbad, California-based Common Desktop development house TriTeal Corp. From this month it will begin offering version 4.0 of its Common Desktop, the TriTeal Enterprise Desktop, for AIX 3.2.5 and 4.1.X, HP-UX 9.0x and 10.X, SunOS and Solaris. Irix, Digital Unix, Sinix and System V MP-RAS will be available in September. Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix Inc, Network Computing Devices Inc and Sun River Inc X terminals in October, and personal computers running Hummingbird Communications Ltd’s eXceed or Network Computing’s PC-Xware X servers. It is also implementing it for Santa Cruz Unix and pitches an aggressive OEM story, claiming three or four names on the list are either close to signing, or are getting the goods on from their analysts. TED 4.0 – golden code is expected this week – is an implementation of CDE 1.0 Application Programming Interfaces, plus additional features, some of which are slated for CDE Next. TriTeal expects to win X/Open CDE 1.0 branding from September on a per-system basis. Version 4.0 enhancements include a graphical workspace manager, multi-monitor support and extended key bindings. It has a Spyglass Web browser with additional graphics streaming and disk cacheing called TEDvision (users with other browsers cannot take advantage of TriTeal Enterprise Desktop’s cut-and-paste facilities, although additional World Wide Web support has not been ruled out), Andataco Inc’s ExpressFax, support for Network Computing and Tektronix PC X servers, LocalTED X terminal clients and the optional Spyrus Corp-derived National Security Agency Fortezza-based TEDsecure 1.0 for use with 4.0 from October. TED 4.0 costs from $425, TEDsecure is $200. TriTeal plans to pick up a WinDD, or similar technology, for accessing Windows applications in a 4.X release. TriTeal, which expects to do $15m in its year to March 31, is targeting users doing database work from Unix desktops who also require personal productivity tools. It now claims more than 50,000 terminals and said it needs to win only a tiny percentage of Unix desktops to get rich.
