🚀 go-pugleaf

OK, we've talked about implementing an X server on GEOS.  Personally,
I think that it's a great idea and that it wouldn't be that hard (for
sombody else -- not me :-).  Heck, even being able to run five or six
TCP/IP GeoComm sessions would be terrific *if* the term-emulation
problems were fixed.  However, these days telecommunications means
more than just running a terminal program.

I'm hoping that telecomm stuff (TCP/IP, RS232, or whatever else -- it
shouldn't make any difference) will be embedded deeply enough into the
operating system that it can be accessed by various kinds of
client-server applications.  I'm thinking of things like

- a spreadsheet macro that will dial up CompuServe, download stock
quotations, and parse them for import into a market forecasting
spreadsheet.  (Yes, I've heard of spreadsheets that do this.)

- a GEOS-based DBMS that can transparently get data from an SQL
server.

- a data-entry screen that conducts live full-screen CICS transactions
in the background.

The latter two are examples of things my shop is looking to implement
right now under The Other GUI.  Windows is giving them fits right now,
but the technology is fast maturing.  I'd sure hate to be forced to
use Windows just because it's the only way to get client-server stuff
done.  GEOS is a leading-edge OS; let's have some leading-edge apps,
too.

At another level, how about the capability to implement Unix-style
remote procedure calls?  RPC's are how NFS-mounted disks manage to
look like real disk drives to a Unix box, and they're how distributed
file systems like DCE work.  My shop is looking to go to DCE in the
future, and I'd love to see PC/GEOS at the leading edge of the
technology.

Then again, how's about letting GEOS objects send each other messages
over telecomm links.  It'd sure be interesting to have a peer-to-peer
PC/GEOS LAN with my apps talking to your apps at the object level.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head.  It's frustrating being the
lone GEOS supporter in a shop where the PC support personnel are
knee-jerk Windows enthusiasts.

-- 
   Doug Taylor                         |   Nothing real can be threatened.
   The Ohio State University           |   Nothing unreal exists.
   doug-taylor+@osu.edu                |            - A Course in Miracles