🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <TQV1CHCxds13@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>Is there any way other than NeWS, then, to move the UI where it belongs...
>in the display the user is working on?

      [ NOTE: This is posted to comp.windows.misc and
	comp.mail.multi-media. I really don't know in which
	group this kind of discussions should be placed,
	so there is no followup-line in header... ]

   All this talk about user interface seems to assume that the
application is on the same machine (or behind a moderately fast
connections) and controls directly the layout of the screen.

  What if an application is a server residing on a network (like
Internet) and is meant to be accessed from all over the globe from
all kinds of environments? Currently the server has no other
option than to use simple terminal protocol. If it wants to give
graphical information, proprietary and other special protocols
are used--tough luck for all others who would have the physical
capability to show the graphics but don't have the right
protocol. [ What non-text services are currently existing, btw?]

  The service could support OpenLook or Motif interface directly,
but doing both of them would be rather heavy on the server. Besides,
there will always be other user interfaces. I say the service shouldn't
care about details of user interface, like presentation. It should
only concentrate on providing the service and let the user decide
his/her user interface.

  In terms of P1201 I see the division of tasks between server and
user environment as follows:

	6) Application	5) Dialogue	4) Presentation ....

	   Server <--- communication --->  User
	   Program			   Agent
					   (for each	- OpenLook |
					   interface)	- Motif    | USER
							- vt100 ;) |
							- ...      |

			<- wide area ->	   <- local/fast net ->

  
   Now comes the hard question: is it possible to define an abstract
information exchange protocol at Dialogue level that would fill the
need of all or most imaginable services? What are the concepts this
protocol operates on?  *If* this was possible, it would have the
following consequences:

	-	service need to support only one interaction
		style with clients, regardless of their local
		requirements

	-	each user environment need only one User Agent
		program for all services it needs to access
		(replacement for the terminal emulation--instead
		of activating xterm, user activates xIR or
		something ;)

   There are requirements for the Dialogue level protocol:

	-	it must be able to pass text and graphics

	-	it must be extensible for new data types without
		breaking existing "xIR" programs (old versions
		would just treat unknown information types as
		byte streams--still capable of passing them on
		without knowing what it was..)

	-	information in processable form is important,
		most of the information is cut/pasted to the
		other applications anyway, edited and reformatted.
		(unrestricted, raw POSTSCRIPT will not fill this
		requirement)

  There are many services that could profit from this universal
access method. Converting the current text based services into
this format would enable them to move gracefully into multi-media
applications. The current trend seems to be to design application
specific pairs (server,user agent), each being fixed to some
specific user interface. This leads to multitude of access programs
and to a chaos--I want a single program to access most of the
information (like xterm, I activate an instance for each access).
And I wan't that program to have the user interface I like, other
people may use different interface, but the same service (e.g.
there would be different user agent for each environment, but
one user would usually use only his/her favorite version).

  Some examples of services

	-	internet name services (either DNS or X.500)

	-	mailbox service (X.400 has this P7, that would
		probably be obsolete after this? ;)

	-	traditional information services (instead of
		text only, I could finally get full documents
		with pictures, later even animations and what
		not... ;)

	-	real time conferencing services, and other
		group communication services.


  In short: I wan't a replacement for the old terminal emulation
straight jacket. I want to break out. I'm looking for the universal
information access tool for the next millenium... :-)
--
Markku Savela                         | savela@tel.vtt.fi
Technical Research Centre of Finland  |
Telecommunications Laboratory         | Markku.Savela@vtt.fi
Otakaari 7 B, SF-02150 ESPOO, Finland | savela%vtttel@router.funet.fi