Hewlett-Packard Co is invading the enemy territory with a freelance contribution to the Open Software Foundation campaign in the battle between Open Look and Motif for the hearts and minds of Unix users fancying graphical user interfaces. It has signed Science Applications International Corp to convert, distribute and support the Motif-based HP Visual User Environment on the Sparcstation machines built by the onlie begetter of the Open Look arch-rival to Motif, Sun Microsystems Inc. Hewlett says that the Environment will support Open Look as well as Motif applications, and traditional Unix applications without modification. The Sun machines will be the first non-Hewlett-Packard boxes on which the Environment has been made available: it is a component of the company’s NewWave Computing strategy and the X Window- and Motif-based product is claimed to be the only user environment that offers multiple workspaces, a front panel containing frequently-used applications, full customisation and a system-wide Help facility. Hewlett already offers its OpenView network-management server software; SoftBench software engineering integration framework; and TaskBroker network optimiser on Sun machines. The Environment for Sun will be $550 this summer.
