The latest company hoping to cash in on the graphical user interface wars is Neuron Data Inc, Palo Alto, California, which claims that its Open Interface toolkit will enable users to create a single graphical user interface for an application, then convert the application, together with the user interface, to other workstation and personal computer environments, including the Apple Macintosh. Out this month, Open Interface starts out as a collection of editors and tools with which developers design, preview and examine their application’s interface. Once created, the design is translated into ANSI C source code, an Open Interface-specific resource file, and a makefile. The developer then combines the applications-specific code into that produced by Open Interface. It is reckoned to be a superset of all widgets and functions of all major windowing environments. The portable C code generated which can be linked to libraries of graphical interface calls that are identical across the supported environments, and provide the look and feel of particular graphical user interfaces such as Motif or Open Look. They translate into actions appropriate for the target interface, according to Neuron Data, which adds that because Open Interface has its own interface object scheme and cross-environment resource file format, developers should be able to create new interface objects using the Open Interface library and transport them to all the most important graphical environments. Run-time licences start at $250 for MS-DOS and Mac, $350 for OS/2 and $500 for VMS and Unix. Development licences cost from $7,000 on MS-DOS and the Macintosh, to $9,000 for OS/2 and $12,000 for VMS and Unix.
