The Open Software Foundation has unofficially put out a Request For Technology for its next generation graphical user interface, UEC II. Responding to the demand from the market that Motif should evolve from essentially what is a developer’s toolkit to more of an end user product, the Foundation has kicked off its efforts by announcing a Graphical user interface Application Interoperability Architecture initiative. Getting the ball rolling sooner than expected, the Foundation held a series of technology workshops in Cambridge, Massachusetts last week to formulate a standardised architecture to support application interoperability on the X Window system. According to the Foundation, the base specification for UEC II will be developed from the Object Management Group’s Common Object Request Broker Architecture – which, the Object Group says, provides a standardised interoperable layer interfacing the application and the graphical user interface. Incorporating this object-oriented technology in UEC II will enable applications written in different Motif environments to communicate with each other by treating services such as electronic mail, facsimile, and file naming as objects.The Object Broker will also bring real-time functionality to the Motif environment. Existing applications developed in Motif 1.2 environments will be compatible with future Motif releases, the Foundation claims. The Object Management Group meantime, is currently developing CORBA 1.2 specifications to add security, lifecycle, naming and persistence functions to the architecture – CORBA 1.2 is scheduled for release in 1993. Specifications for electronic mail and word processing will follow in 1994 – CORBA 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 specifications will all be UEC II-compliant. The Foundation meantime has also put out a call for object-oriented widgets for the Interoperability Architecture. Object-based widget libraries will enable UEC II and Motif 1.2 applications to integrate as interactive objects for rich text and personal computer-like user interface controls. The request for widgets falls into two categories: a rich text widget to support editing of text with various colours and typefaces; and control widgets, which will provide equivalent functionality to personal computer user interfaces, spin button, field stepper and thermometer slider. Submissions for widgets are due by September 4. The Foundation, which is said to have already started coding for the Graphical Application Interoperability Architecture specification, has set mid-1993 for delivery of the first snapshots of the specification.
