Subject: (FAQ) Portable GUI Development Kits, part 2/2
Summary: This posting discusses many of the various platform-independent
    Graphical User Interface (GUI) development software libraries/
    packages.
Supersedes: <PIGUI_FAQ2_800671688@nb.rockwell.com>
References: <PIGUI_FAQ1_803316857@nb.rockwell.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 15:34:24 GMT

Version: 1.16


-----------------------------------
Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 Wade Guthrie.  Permission is granted to copy
and redistribute this document so long as it is unmodified (including
the part that explains where to get the FAQ free-of-charge) and the
copyright remains in-tact.  I'd appreciate it if you told me about any
redistribution, but that's not strictly necessary.
-----------------------------------

0. CONTENTS

    -- part 1 --
    I.   WHAT'S NEW IN THIS ISSUE
    II.  INTRODUCTION
    III. ABOUT THE IEEE PIGUI STANDARD
    IV.  USER-INTERFACE APPROACHES
    V.   FEATURES AND SUPPORTED PLATFORMS

    -- part 2 --
    VI.  VENDOR REPORTS
    VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

-- In case you only got part II ------
You can get the latest version (both parts) of this FAQ
*FREE-OF-CHARGE* by anonymous FTP from 'rtfm.mit.edu' in the
/pub/usenet/comp.windows.misc directory.
--------------------------------------

.
VI. VENDOR REPORTS
    Vendor reports start here.  Each one is led by a form feed.

.
NAME:
    C++/Views, V3.0.1

VENDOR:
    Liant Software Corp. 
    959 Concord St., 
    Framingham, MA 01701 USA    

    (800) 237-1873 (sales)
    (800) 833-3678 (inquiries)
    (508) 875-2246 (support)

    Email: support@lpi.liant.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a C++ library based on the smalltalk model (all classes
    come from one superclass, and they have a smalltalk-like class
    browser).  Version 3 now has a WYSIWYG GUI builder (that includes a
    class browser and portable resource editor) called C++/Views
    Constructor.  

    Additional features include printer, graphics, event, string, and
    various container classes as well as some higher-level classes
    (e.g., VTableView and VToolBar).  Version 3 also handles geometry
    management so you can place objects based on relative coordinates
    and persistent object storage.

    C++/Views Constructor is the focal point of the C++/Views
    development process.  One uses the browser to navigate through his
    application to, among other things, find appropriate GUI base
    classes.  From there, one can derive new class descriptions which
    the browser uses to generate the necessary C++ source code.  The
    user doesn't see individual events; they handled by virtual
    callback functions in the base classes.

SUPPORT:
    60 days free.  After that, $399/year for Microsoft Windows /
    Windows NT, Mac, and OS/2; $599/yr for Motif.  All support
    contracts now include upgrades.

COMMENTS:
    Liant believes that their product is different from the rest
    because C++/Views provides a higher level of abstraction from
    most of the rest of the PIGUIs and, therefore, is easier to
    come up-to-speed.

    Liant seems to be listening to what their customers have to say.
    Many of the previous negative comments in this FAQ have been
    addressed by Liant in their latest release (and this has been
    substantiated by user comments).  The people at Liant have also
    been extremely helpful with putting together this FAQ.

    Liant was founded in 1980.

FUTURE PLANS:
    Liant has a Mac version, but the price is as yet undetermined.
    They have DOS and Unix character versions which, I'm told, will 
    be in beta very soon.

    They're also working on portable on-line help, multi-byte character
    support, C++ code generation from their builder (as opposed to 
    generation of a resource file), and compatibility with ODBMSs.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    They use a smalltalk model -- if you like smalltalk, great; if not,
    you may have some trouble.  They have a browser/editor -- it's
    simple to add a new message but it's reportedly kind-of clumsy to
    use.  You may want to use a different environment like Borland's
    IDE under Microsoft Windows.  

    US technical support has improved (and is continuing to improve),
    from what I've heard, but overseas users must go through their
    local technical support personnel (some of which are less than
    stellar).

.
NAME:
    Common Lisp Interface Manager, V2.0

VENDOR:
    Well, this gets kind-of complicated.  It was started by a company
    called 'Internation Lisp Associates', or ILA, but was adopted by
    several Lisp vendors.  The five active CLIM parters are:

    Symbolics (these guys are the primary coordinators of the project)
    Concord, MA

    Lucid, Menlo Park, CA
    Email: sales@lucid.com

    Franz, Berkeley, CA

    Harlelquin

    Illudium
    Email: york@lucid.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    CLIM is a de-facto extension to the Common Lisp language.  It
    supports standard shape-drawing primitives with a portable color
    model.  Full 2D affine transforms are supported.  In addition, a
    platform-independent typeface specification mechanism is included.

    CLIM operates through a back-end for each underlying GUI.  Back-end
    efforts exist for Motif (which is shipping), OpenLook, and the
    Macintosh.  I don't think that there is a Windows back-end yet.
    CLIM can also run in a CLIM-look-and-feel mode as a fallback.

    For additional information, see the comp.lang.lisp FAQ, part 7.

.
NAME:
    Don's Class Application (DCLAP) library.

VENDOR:
    Don Gilbert, 
    Indiana University at Bloomington, Biocomputing Dept.

    Email: dclap@bio.indiana.edu

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a (free-of-charge) barebones C++ application framework with
    no detailed documentation.

COMMENTS:
    You can get it via anonymous ftp from ftp.bio.indiana.edu.  It's in
    the /util/dclap directory.

    According to the author, it "has several important flaws".  But, on
    the other hand, it's free for non-commercial uses.  It is built on
    the cross-platform toolkit from the National Center for
    Biotechnology Information (NCBI) of the National Library of
    Medicine (NLM) available for anonymous ftp from ncbi.nlm.nih.gov as
    /toolbox/ncbi_tools/ncbi.tar.Z.

.
NAME:
    Galaxy, V2.02

VENDOR:
    Visix 
    11440 Commerce Park Drive
    Reston, Virginia 22091

    (800) 832-8668 (inquiries)
    (703) 758-2711 (voice)

    Email: galaxy@visix.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    There are C++ and C versions of this library.  The package includes
    a WYSIWYG GUI builder.  They ship the tools with static and
    dynamically loaded libraries, debugging libraries, as well as
    single- and multi-look-and-feel versions.  

    The tools are, reportedly, pretty full-featured.  User-interface
    items have extensive abstraction (for example, they have a
    confirmation-type dialog that resolves to a push-pin and 'apply'
    button under OpenLook, but 'ok', 'apply', 'cancel' buttons under
    motif).  Also, errors are handled with an abstract exception
    handling framework.  They support geometry management and
    internationalization of typefaces (at least Japanese), money, and 
    data formatting.  Finally, they have a portable help engine.

    Some extra-cool features include memory leak detection and
    C-language objects for text (multi-styled, multi-font text with
    embedded graphics), list (spreadsheet-like for handling up to 2^31
    x 2^31 cells with customizable displays), and graphics processing.
    They include lots of high-level objects for use by developers;
    these objects include a font chooser, an icon editor, a directory
    browser (for file selection), and a color chooser.

    In addition to a GUI portability platform, Galaxy also includes
    inter-process communication (IPC), extensive filesystem, and sound
    support portability across platforms.

SUPPORT:
    You get no support when you buy the product.  If you buy the
    support, it includes product updates and phone access to their
    developers.  According to one of Galaxy's developers "not buying
    support is really a false economy".

COMMENTS:
    These guys have implemented a full superset approach to their API.
    Often, their objects are more capable than the native-mode object
    would if you had not used their code.  Like Neuron data, they're
    an emulated API (they don't layer on-top of other tools); they
    compile, for example, down to Xlib under Motif or OpenLook.

    This software won Unix Review's Outstanding Product Award (1993)
    for Software Development Front-Ends.

    They claim support for MS-Windows v3.1, but support is only for
    (the still buggy) Win32s and not Win16 (well, actually, if you
    use Watcom, they have their own version of Win32 for MS-Windows
    3.1).

    Contrary to popular belief, Visix is not planning (as of 15 June
    1994) to drop their policy of requiring (costly) training in order
    to get an evaluation copy of Galaxy.  

    Visix was founded in 1989 and is privately held.  Galaxy has been
    in development since 1986 and has been on-the-market since 1992.
    Over 2,000 copies of Galaxy has been licensed to more than 250
    companies.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    One user says, "If you are looking at cross-platform development
    environments, you absolutely MUST take a look at Galaxy, from Visix
    Software.  Very good interface builder, covers ALL layers of the
    API, from GUI to networking, very well designed API, C++ version,
    etc. [...] We have had good results with it so far."  Another user
    agrees, "I've been using their software for almost 2 years now 
    and I love it", adding, "I lead a project that had > 80K lines of
    C / C++ that had less than 100 lines [different] between the SunOS
    and MS-Windows versions."

    But others chide them for their 1 week class requirement for an
    evaluation copy, "I looked at Galaxy. It seems to be a nice
    package, but [...] If you want to give it a try, you MUST take
    their 1 week class for about $1800.00 and what manager is going to
    allocate funds", "... and time [...] This required one week trip to
    Visix class was probably the reason we ended up with another
    package."


REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
    These guys have been extremely helpful getting their portion of
    this FAQ going.  I think that this could be indicative of seriously
    superlative support (that's an awful lot of alliteration).

    Using their C product produces extremely verbose code; it seems to
    me that they should hide more of the detail from the programmer.

    Most of the extraneous code can be cut from their examples and
    pasted into your application, but good luck figuring out what that
    code does.  On the other hand, once the cut-and-paste tango is
    accomplished, one can achieve quite good results.  As with many
    other PIGUIs I've seen, the learning curve is nearly vertical (and
    the documentation doesn't help much) but once you've gotten used to
    the API, you can get some neat things done.

.
NAME:
    Guild

VENDOR:
    Guild
    1710 S. Amphlett
    2nd Fl.
    San Mateo, California 94402

    (415) 513-6650 (voice)
    (415) 349-4908 (fax)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a C-language library, but they're type-safe for C++
    compatibility.  The package includes a GUI builder and an event
    occurrence monitor.

    Additional features in the library includes support for
    international character sets, portable file system support and
    nifty C-language classes for pie-charts, 3d bars, x-y plots, and
    the like.

OPTIONS:
    Graphic Modeling        $995
    Oracle Database Bridge  $395
    ODBC Database Access    $495

SUPPORT:
    Three month free phone tech support.  After that, its $100 per
    month or $1000 per year (the latter including free upgrades).

FUTURE PLANS:
    They're working on a Unix/Motif version.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    Problems include "no file, printing or memory management support",
    according to Richard Chimera (carm@cs.umd.edu).

.
NAME:
    ILOG Views

VENDOR:
    ILOG Inc.
    2105 Landings Drive
    Mountain View, CA 94943

    (415) 390-9000 (voice)
    (415) 390-0946 (fax)

    email: info@ilog.com
    WWW:   http://www.ilog.fr/ilog/home.html

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    ILOG Views is a portable C++ library of graphical objects.  This
    product includes a GUI editor for developing both standard and
    'very' graphical user interfaces.  ILOG Views seems to be targeted
    at graphics intensive applications; they claim it can display
    10,000 graphic objects per second, for example, on standard a PC.

    ILOG Views has several levels at which one can operate including
    the line-and-box level (with PostScript support), the 2-D object
    level, the object manager level (move groups, do rotation of
    groups), or the power-widgets level (which covers not only stuff
    like spreadsheets, but also things like a gantt editor).

    This library provides portable graphics, double buffering,
    persistent objects (using ASCII files), and IPC (sockets and RPC).

    Appearantly, ILOG Views won The X Journal's 1995 Editor's Choice
    Award!

OPTIONS:
    ILOG BUILDER (a GUI builder that generates OSF/Motif interfaces).
    ILOG DB LINK (RDBMS connection library)
    ILOG SERVER

SUPPORT:

COMMENTS:
    ILOG is a 110 person ISV focussed on C++ development tools.

    ILOG wad created in 1987.


.
NAME:
    JAM/Pi 5.03 (6.0, reportedly, is on the way)

VENDOR:
    JYACC, Inc.
    New York, New York

    (212) 267-7722 (voice)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a C-language library.  The package includes a GUI builder.

OPTIONS:
    JAM/DBi     Database Interface
    JAM/Rw      Report Writer

FUTURE PLANS:
    Version 6.0 is due out soon.  This is supposed to be quiet a bit
    better in the GUI arena than they've done in the past.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    One user says "We have been using JAM 5.03 [...] and am not
    entirely happy with it. [...] no scrollbars in the CUI version, no
    buttons [...] The CUI does not follow any accepted style (like
    Motif or MS Windows)"

.
NAME:
    libWxm

VENDOR:
    Visual Solutions
    487 Groton Road
    Westford, MA 01886

    (508) 392-0100 (voice)
    (508) 692-3102 (fax)

    Email: sales@vissol.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    libWxm emulates the MS Windows (win32/s) API.  They support dialogs,
    resources, bitmaps, child windows and controls, custom controls,
    fonts, and GDI commands.

FUTURE PLANS:
    MDI support, postscript printing, and DDE support.

.
NAME:
    MAINWin/CDK v1.1

VENDOR:
    MAINSoft Corporation
    1270 Oakmead parkway, suite 310
    Sunnyvale, CA 94086

    (800) MAIN-WIN (inquiries)
    (415) 896-0708 (fax inquiries)
    (408) 774-3400 (voice)
    (408) 774-3404 (fax)

    Email: info@mainsoft.com
    WWW:   http://www.mainsoft.com/

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    MAINWin is a portable implementation (to any system offering POSIX
    compliance and Xlib) of the MS Windows API (including the Microsoft
    Foundation Classes 2.0 and 3.0) on Unix/X-Windows.  They support
    DDEML, Win32 message format, and most of the Win32s APIs.  The CDK
    includes printer support, a resource compiler, a help compiler
    (they have support for Winhelp using the windows .hlp files), a
    makefile generator plus some additional tools.

    The software's output runs directly on Xlib, and does not require
    Motif software.  MAINWin allows the user to switch look-and-feel
    (between MS-Windows and Motif) from the system menu at run-time.
    In order to run a MAINWin application on a Unix workstation, users
    need a copy of the "MAINWin for Workstations" product for each
    machine on which the code runs.

    MAINWin offers porting tools for MS Windows resources, the MS
    Windows hypertext help system (which uses the original rtf-format
    help files), shared libraries (DLLs), fonts, postscript printing,
    dynamic data exchange (DDE), and MS Windows Device Context APIs.
    Also included in this code is support for the Microsoft MFC 2.0
    class library.  Finally, MAINWin includes their DDR technology to
    provide PC-compatible file structures across all systems.

    Documentation for with MAINWin includes the "MAINWin Cross-
    Development Guide", the "MAINWin API Function Call Status" document
    and the "MAINWin API Message and Control Status" document.

    MAINWin's optional developer program includes a weekly status of
    issues reported to MAINSoft.

FUTURE PLANS:
    MAINSoft plans to support OLE/OLE2 and the Chicago API and look.
    They also plan to provide the MAINWin/Device Driver Kit.

COMMENTS:
    MAINSoft has entered into a source code license agreement with
    Microsoft.  This agreement allows MAINSoft to incorporate MS-Windows
    code into their product.

    In addition, MAINWin includes something they call DOS Data
    Representation technology into their toolkit.  This allows the user
    to use MS-DOS format files under the other platforms supported by
    their software.

.
NAME:
    Menuet/CPP

VENDOR:
    Autumn Hill Software, Inc.
    1145 Ithaca Drive
    Boulder, Co. 80303

    (303) 494-8865 (voice)
    (303) 494-7802 (fax)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    Menuet/CPP is a C++ product (they also have a vanilla 'C' product).
    They have a product called an Application Generator -- anyone know
    what this is?

.
NAME:
    MEWEL User Interface Library, Version 4.1

VENDOR:
    Magma Systems
    15 Bodwell Terrace
    Millburn, NJ 07041

    (201) 912-0192 (voice)
    (201) 912-0103 (fax)
    (201) 912-0668 (BBS, 9600-1200, N-8-1)

    75300.2062@compuserve.com (Magma has a vendor support conference on CIS)
    magma@bix.com  (Magma has a vendor support conference on BIX)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    MEWEL is a portable implementation of the MS Windows API;
    MEWEL/Motif is an implementation of the Windows API, MFC, and OWL
    for Motif.  It is a C library, but is type-safe for C++.  You can
    program your applications in C, or can use Microsoft's MFC,
    Borland's OWL, Liant's C++/Views, or wxWindows.  MEWEL supports the
    usual stuff including icons, MDI, dialog boxes.  MEWEL/Pro supports
    the 16 and 32-bit extenders that come with Borland PowerPack,
    Pharlap 286, Pharlap 386/TNT, Watcom/Rational DOS/4GW, and DJGPP's
    GO32.  MEWEL is the only user interface library that can be
    implemented totally as a DOS DLL under Borland's PowerPack.

    A "lite" version of MEWEL is distributed with the DOS text and DOS
    graphics versions of zApp.  Their product has also been ported to
    Gnu C++ (DJGPP) on the PC.

FUTURE PLANS:
    "We are working on a version for MFC/NT [Microsoft Foundation
    Classes/Windows NT] using Pharlap TNT extender, but it's not ready
    yet."  One nifty ramification of this is that one will be able to
    use MEWEL and the Pharlap DOS extender in order to port Windows NT
    applications to DOS.

COMMENTS:
    You can download demos and info from ftp://ftp.uu.net/vendor/uno/
.
NAME:
    Microsoft Foundation Classes (Microsoft)
    VC++ 2.0 Cross-Development Edition for Macintosh
    VC++ 2.0 For Intel and MIPS Platforms

VENDOR:
    Microsoft Corporation
    One Microsoft Way
    Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

    (206) 882-8080 (voice)
    (206) 93M-SFAX (fax)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    Microsoft's Visual C++ is, of course, more than just a PIGUI; this
    suite of products includes both compilers and libraries for the
    various platforms they support.  'Microsoft Visual C++' for the
    Intel and MIPS platforms targets MS-Windows-based operating systems
    and 'Visual C++ Cross-Development Edition for Macintosh' (which
    I'll call VC++CDE:Mac, for short =^>) targets, well, the Macintosh
    (System 7).  The Mac edition supports MFC, version 3.0.

    To produce Mac-targeted programs, you must develop your software on
    a Windows NT server and cross-compile to the Mac platform.
    VC++CDE:Mac includes a cross-compiler, libraries, and porting tools
    to build Mac-specific widgets and help flag various nonportable
    constructs.

    Note: cross-development capability from Microsoft does not come
    string-free.  Call Microsoft's fax back service at 206-635-2222 and
    select document No. 206 for a complete license agreement.

COMMENTS:
    Microsoft was founded in 1975.

FUTURE PLANS:
    Future editions of Visual C++ will include support for PowerPC(TM)
    for both the Apple(R) Macintosh and Windows NT operating systems.
    Microsoft also plans to produce Visual C++ for Alpha AXP(TM)
    platforms.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    Quick to port, slow to run (on the Mac, anyway).  It also makes
    pretty big executables on the Mac.

.
NAME:
    NuTCRACKER X/SDK

VENDOR:
    DataFocus, Inc.
    12450 Fair Lakes Circle, Suite 400
    Fairfax, VA 22033

    (800) 637-8034 (voice)
    (703) 818-1532 (fax)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    NuTCRACKER is an implementation of the Motif API (as well as some
    of the standard Unix calls) under Windows/NT.  In addition, they
    provide a non-X Windows SDK which allows curses users to port their
    code (I don't know if this ports to Windows or an MS-DOS window
    running curses).

    They have an internal deployment seat (called the X/OE) which costs
    $495.  For outside distribution, there's a $5K/100 seats or a $20K
    buy out price tag.

    Besides GUI portability, NuTCRACKER also supports Unix process
    control, Unix IPC mechanisms (i.e., shared memory, named pipes, BSD
    sockets, and semaphores) as well as some of Unix's security
    features.

SUPPORT:
    Each purchase (or evaluation copy) of NuTCRACKER comes with 30 days
    of free support via telephone, fax, or e-mail.  After that, you can
    purchase Schedule A support (voice, fax, and e-mail with a maximum
    24 hour response time) for $2000/year or the Schedule B support
    (fax and e-mail only with a 48 hour maximum response time) for
    $500/year.


FUTURE PLANS:
    Their next release will support Daytona and the VC++ 2.0 compiler.
    They have committed to supporting Windows 95 (was Chicago) and
    Windows NT on the PowerPC.

.
NAME:
    Open Interface Elements, Version 3.0

VENDOR:
    Neuron Data
    156 University Avenue,
    Palo Alto, California 94301

    (800) 876-4900 (inquiries)
    (415) 321-4488 (voice)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    Open Interface is an emulated PIGUI with a C++ API (as of Open
    Interface Elements 3.0).  The software also comes with a WYSIWYG
    GUI builder which includes a script language that can co-exist with
    C or C++.  Their C++ approach no longer uses a wrappers approach!

    They include tons of extra widgets (which they call "Power
    Widgets") like business graphics (bar, pie, and line charts),
    images (all standard formats), a hypertext widget, and
    context-sensitive hypertext help.

    Other software in Open Interface includes international character
    support, portable drag-and-drop, multi-font support, full printer
    support, memory management, file I/O support as well as MS-Windows
    DDE support (the latter is, of course, non-portable).

OPTIONS:
    "Nexpertobject" is an expert systems tool intended for GUI
    development.

    "C/S Elements" is a client/server for tying UI components to
    one of many supported relational databases.  This allows the UI
    to control the database and changes in the database to be 
    propagated back into the UI.

    "Smart Elements" is for integrating knowledge-based systems with
    Neuron's GUI stuff.  This allows changes to objects in the
    knowledge based system to be propagated to the UI and vice versa.
    In addition, these are integrated with a scripting language which
    causes changes in both the knowledge base and the UI.

COMMENTS:
    Open Interface is an emulated GUI, that attempts to superset the
    features from the various GUIs they support.

    Particularly if one looks at Neuron Data's optional products, one
    can see a leaning toward support of DBMS and expert systems.

    These guys claim to have 35% of the market share for PIGUI tools
    (including some heavyweights like IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard,
    and AT&T).

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    One user says, "[They've] Implemented all kinds of ideas such as
    being able to add items to scrolling lists using the += operator in
    C++ etc etc etc. Found some bugs, but support was brilliant, and
    new releases were always pushing the frontiers forward. All bug
    reports have met with speedy response.  It is expensive, but worth
    it. Great for object-oriented development."

    Another user agrees, "The only one [PIGUI] I would recommend is
    Neuron Data's Open Interface.".

    However, one user cautions, "I [only] recommend doing development
    on a UNIX box or a Mac with this tool.  The person using our [MS]
    windows copy has had some problems with ND corrupting its own data
    files and/or crashing windows."

    Another complaint I seem to be seeing concerns slow and poor 
    technical support.

.
NAME:
    ObjectViews C++

VENDOR:
    Quest Windows Corporation
    4677 Old Ironsides Drive
    Santa Clara, CA 95054

    (408) 496-1900 (voice)
    (408) 988-8357 (fax)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a full C++ class library.  It is a superset of a non-
    proprietary API based on "InterViews".

    It includes Motif 1.2 Drag and Drop and Tear-off Menus.  It allows
    full access to native Xlib, PEX, SDK, and Mac toolkit.

SUPPORT:
    One hour free.  After that, it costs (I'm not sure how much).

.
NAME:
    OpenUI, v3.1

VENDOR:
    Open Software Associates
    20 Trafalgar Square, 5th Floor
    Nashua, NH 03063

    (800) 441-4330 (voice)
    (603) 886-4330 (voice)
    (603) 598-6877 (fax)

    Email: info@osa.com
    WWW:   http://www.osa.com.au/

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This interface supports C, Pascal, (ish) COBOL, and Ada.  Not only
    is the C type safe for C++, but they're willing to supply a native
    C++ API if there's enough demand.  The software comes with a
    WYSIWYG GUI builder.  They also have a "platform pack", a
    less-expensive, de-featured package which allows software developed
    with OpenUI to be ported to other platforms.

    Their code supports stand-alone as well as client (GUI) / server
    (Logic) application development.  A client/server application can
    be developed in stand-alone mode.

    When you purchase the product, you receive 90 days of fax and
    e-mail support.  Purchased support adds-in phone access as well as
    product updates.

    In addition to GUI portability, OpenUI provides TCP/IP and DecNet
    support.

COMMENTS:
    Open Software Associates have rewritten their integrated 
    development environment (IDE).

    Open Software Associates has been around since 1990.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    Says one user, "Support is brilliant, among the best I have ever
    seen in the computer industry. Comes with a [GUI] builder, allows
    generation of new GUI classes using a concept of soft-classes (not
    quite inheritance, but fairly powerful). Good for when multi-
    platform support is needed, but not as powerful as OI for a single
    GUI application. They will port to other hardware fairly quickly.
    We got the SUN port within a month."

    Problems include "no file, printing or memory management support",
    according to Richard Chimera (carm@cs.umd.edu -- from a report
    "Evaluation of Platform Independent Interface Builders", dated
    March 1993).
.
NAME:
    Object Windows Library, v2.5

VENDOR:
    Borland International, Incorporated
    100 Borland Way
    Scotts Valley, California 95066-3249

    (408) 431-1000 (voice)
    WWW:  http://www.borland.com/

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    The Object Windows Library (OWL) ships with Borland's C++ compilers
    for MS-Windows and OS/2.  This library addresses both 16 and 32 bit
    MS-Windows and provides over 200 classes that provide the usual
    stuff plus extra graphical widgets (like toolbars, status lines,
    and palettes).  OWL supports graphics classes and printing.

    OWL under OS/2 supports a subset of the functionality available 
    under OWL for MS-Windows.

COMMENTS:
    Borland was founded in 1983.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:

.
NAME:
    Presentation Services Manager 

VENDOR:
    Lancorp Pty Ltd
    33 Nott St
    Port Melbourne 3207
    Australia

    +61 3 646 7100 (voice)
    +61 3 646 8610 (fax)

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    No WYSIWYG GUI builder exists, but they do include a script
    language.

.
NAME:
    Screen Machine, V1.41
 
VENDOR:
    Objective Interface Systems, Inc.
    1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 250
    Reston, Virginia 22091-5448
 
    (800) 800-OIS7 (inquiries)
    (703) 264-1900 (voice)
    (703) 264-1721 (fax)
 
    Email: info@ois.com
 
SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is an Ada PIGUI which includes a WYSIWYG GUI builder.

    The product fully supports Ada's built in multi-threading
    capabilities (protects against non-re-entrant code in the native
    windowing systems).  This allows SQL applications and such to
    continue processing input from the user while waiting on one or
    more database transactions.

    Screen Machine (I have to give them two points for the name alone)
    includes an Ada code generator that generates layered Ada GUI code
    that follows the presentation/dialog/application scheme.

SUPPORT:
    Free (with updates) for one year.  After that, call for pricing.

FUTURE PLANS:
    OIS is currently developing an Ada94 (fully O-O) parallel
    implementation of Fresco/C++ (new Xt replacement technology in
    X11R6).  This new Fresco_Ada(tm) will offer the same object
    embedding (via CORBA), multi-threading support, resolution
    independence, multiple look-and-feel emulation, and structured
    graphics that the C++ version of Fresco.  The CORBA interface will
    allow Fresco_Ada applications to transparently interoperate with
    Fresco/C++ applications.  OIS is extending the product to include a
    full MVC paradymn and fully automatic memory reclaimation.  Windows
    NT and Windows 4.0 versions are planned in addition to the VMS and
    Unix X Windows versions.

.
NAME:
    StarView 2.1

VENDOR:
    Star Division
    2180 Sand Hill Road, Suite 320
    Menlo Park, CA 94025

    (800) 888-8527 (inquiries)
    (415) 233-0142 (fax)

    Email: svinfo@stardiv.de

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a full C++ class library that comes with their DesignEditor
    which creates resource files.  Some of the classes include SplitBar
    (a splittable scrollbar like a spreadsheet uses), tool boxes,
    status bars, file dialogs, and MS-Windows bitmap support via file
    stream IO.

    Other features/portability capabilities include international
    language support (being a German company selling software in the
    states, this makes a lot of sense) but not multi-byte character
    sets, full printer support (including page preview), endian-aware
    classes, platform-independent file specification, and drag&drop
    support.  

    This product also comes with several general-purpose C++ classes
    including Strings and a very complete complement of container
    classes (e.g., Queues, Lists, and Tables).  These classes are
    included in a Microsoft Windows DLL for reduced memory usage.

COMMENTS:
    These guys are using their own code (originally written in C++, I
    might add) to put together a multi-platform word processor.  Their
    word processor guys keep their PIGUI guys informed of any
    incompatibilities.

    One really neat thing is that they've ported Microsoft's help to
    other platforms.  They have special (though non-portable) Microsoft
    Windows OLE and DDE classes.

FUTURE PLANS:
    OS/2 & NT in beta.
    They are working on OLE 2.0 classes as well.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    Most of the reports that I've seen on StarView have been extremely
    favorable with emphasis on their intuitive API.  Ian Upright
    (Ian_Upright@mindlink.bc.ca), for example, says "If you're doing
    [PIGUI] development, I think you'd be insane to not check out
    StarView as an option.  [...] The entire design of the library is
    very intelligent and VERY well thought out.  [...] It also has
    system dependent hooks available.  Such as the ability to trap [MS]
    windows messages of a HWND."  Other users second this, "Their
    features for creating graphics and using output devices is
    marvelous." and "The class library is excellent.  It's complete.  
    [...]  It's intuitive."

    User support is their biggest problem.  Even though they have two
    support people and their primary support guy is really helpful,
    this is still a major issue.  "They've got one good tech support
    guy, Andreas [they've added another].  You may not be able to call
    and get an immediate answer, as they're not always in."  Says
    another user, "The real disappointment with StarView has been their
    customer support.  We've known times where they didn't return our
    calls for weeks.  They've consistently been late with releases and
    shipments, and have made promises on the phone that were not kept."

REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
    The software is new, and it seemed to me to be a bit rough around
    the edges.  I had a review copy, but never got the software to work
    with Microsoft Windows 3.0 (this is when MS-Windows 3.1 was the
    most recent version).  The support people tried extremely hard to
    help me, but I had to move on to other things without being able to
    get it to work.
.
NAME:
    Simple User Interface Toolkit, v2.3

VENDOR:
    University of Virginia
    Email: suit@uvacs.cs.virginia.edu

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    SUIT is a (free-of-charge with strings attached) C-language
    library.  It comes with source, a 10 page tutorial, and a 160 page
    reference manual.  SUIT's prime directive is ease of learning
    (estimated time to productivity is around 2 hours -- oh, and there
    is that thing about not interfering with the natural advancement of
    an indigenous life form, but we won't get into that here =^> ).
    The software has the unusual trait that it's user-interface is
    editable even while a SUIT application program is running.

    SUIT is available with source for free for Universities and
    non-profit organizations (for-profit organizations can license SUIT
    for around $25,000).  Anyone can download it via anonymous ftp from
    uvacs.cs.virginia.edu (128.143.8.100) for evaluation purposes.

    For more information finger 'suit@uvacs.cs.virginia.edu'

.
NAME:
    VisualWorks v2.0

VENDOR:
    Openware
    [?]
    Email: info@boulder.openware.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    VisualWorks is a Smalltalk application development environment and
    class library for client-server GUI products.  The VisualWorks
    software includes a set of interactive development tools to help
    you, well, develop your GUI software interactively.  In addition,
    one can use the Chameleon View product to preview the look of an
    application as if it were running under different windowing
    managers on the various supported platforms.  

    In addition to all of this, VisualWorks includes an external
    database interface, currently for Oracle and Sybase.

OPTIONS:
    Advanced Tools - performance benchmarks, complex numbers, extended
    browser, metanumbers, parser compiler, space use profiler, class
    analysis and reports (e.g., variables used but not defined).

    Business Graphics - pie, bar, line, etc., charts

    DLL & C Connect - parse C header files, call out to DLLs and
    shared libraries

    Oracle Connect 2.0

    Sybase Connect 2.0

COMMENTS:
    Apparently (I haven't seen the article, personally) the June 14,1993
    issue of Computerworld ranks ParcPlace pretty highly.

.
NAME:
    Wind/U v2.1

VENDOR:
    Bristol Technology Inc.
    241 Ethan Allen Highway Ridgefield, CT 06877

    (203) 438-6969 (voice)
    (203) 438-5013 (fax)

    Email: info@bristol.com
    WWW:   http://www.bristol.com/

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    Wind/U is an implementation of the Microsoft Windows API under
    Unix/Motif.  Wind/U supports Win16 and Win32 and the Microsoft
    Foundation Classes 3.0 (MFC, the API under Visual C++).  It
    contains custom widgets to allow applications to utilize multiple
    document interface (MDI), combo boxes, dynamically linked libraries
    (DLLs), dynamic data exchange (DDE), WinSock, and PostScript and
    PCL4 and PCL5 (Hewlett Packard's Printer Control Language)
    printing. You can use your MS Windows Help file source on Unix with
    Bristol's HyperHelp.  In addition, they support the Windows GDI
    graphics drawing interface, including the coordinate system
    choices.  Finally, they support Common dialog DLLs as well as DDEML
    (Dynamic Data Exchange Management Library) DLLs.

    Their toolkit includes several programmer tools including Wind/U
    Spy (an application that runs under Motif but looks like the
    MS-Windows Spy program), online documentation, a makefile
    generation program (to help compile your MS-Windows program under
    Unix), and other tools to help prepare your PC source for Unix.

COMMENTS:
    Bristol has entered into a source code license agreement with
    Microsoft.  This agreement allows Bristol to incorporate MS-Windows
    code into their product.

    Bristol was founded in 1990 and has maintained a profit every
    quarter since 1992.

FUTURE PLANS:
    HyperHelp V4.0 is also due out this summer and should include
    improved FrameMaker support, dynamic text retrieval, user
    reporting, improved printing and searching, and a bunch of other
    stuff.

    Bristol has also demonstrated OLE 2.0 on Unix platforms.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    One user says, "[Wind/U] is a fairly complete implementation of the
    Windows API for unix.  There are some bugs, and some unimplemented
    features, but it seems to be getting better over time.  Bristol's
    support for their product is truly excellent: they are very
    responsive and have been able to provide rapid turnaround for our
    problems."

.
NAME:
    WM_MOTIF User Interface Library, v4.1

VENDOR:
    Software UNO, Ltd.
    15 Bodwell Terrace     1259 Fernandez Juncos Ave.
    Millburn, NJ 07041     San Juan, PR 00907

    (800) 840-UNIX (840-8649) (voice)
    (809) 723-5000
    (809) 722-6242 (fax)
    (201) 912-0668 (BBS, 9600-1200, N-8-1)

    Email: 73710.3031@compuserve.com (can also use the MAGMA forum)
           info@uno.com, sales@uno.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    WM_MOTIF is a portable implementation of the MS Windows API for
    Unix Motif and character-based environments.  It is a C library,
    but also supports popular C++ frameworks like Microsoft's MFC or
    Borland's OWL.  A resource compiler is included to port MS-Windows
    resources to the Unix platforms.  WM_MOTIF supports bitmaps, icons,
    and cursors; UIL is not required.

    Source code is available.

    Demo executables are available via anonymous FTP at
    ftp://ftp.uu.net/vendor/uno.  Software UNO also offers an
    evaluation library to allow developers to compile their own code
    with the library.

FUTURE PLANS:
    "We are working on Win32 support for the first half of 1995. This
    will extend WM_MOTIF compatibility to applications developed for NT
    and Win32s platforms."

.
NAME:
    WNDX, V2.04

VENDOR:
    WNDX
    Suite 418, 1167 Kensington Crescent N.W.
    Calgary, Alberta Canada T2N 1X7

    (403) 283-5590 (voice)
    (403) 283-6250 (fax)
    (403) 283-6395 (bbs)

    Email: support@wndx.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a C library which comes bundled with a resource builder
    (OPUS) capable of creating portable resource files.  

    WNDX provides system-independent graphic drawing routines, window
    manipulation primitives, and user interaction management routines
    as well as dialogs, menus, editable and static text items,
    scrollbars, checkboxes, radio buttons, list items, selection items,
    icons, color selection items, icon and bitmap items.  Printing
    support is available for the DOS and Windows platforms (only).

    Programs generated with WNDX can be configured to use the native
    environment of the platform, or to be identical in appearance and
    behavior across all platforms.  This is accomplished by the use of
    different "style guides" (source included) which define the look
    and feel of the particular "style".  For example, a simple menu
    option can change the look and feel of the OPUS application running
    in Windows from the Windows style guide to the Motif style guide.

COMMENTS:
    According to one article, they've altered concepts that most GUI
    developers consider conventional.  All widgets have all the
    attributes defined for them (it's just that some of the attributes
    are meaningless and, therefore, ignored).  WNDX describes it
    differently: The basis of the WNDX paradigm is the Window
    "object".  Each object has an attribute list.  Other "objects" are
    derived from the basic window object and each kind of object adds
    different customized attributes to the attribute list.

    There are some problems, like colors are not fully editable and
    there's no way to put a picture on a button (without fudging).
    Other complaints include features (like icons) that require special
    non-portable effort to use in a native look-and-feel.

    In addition to the platforms supported, a source code license is
    available for programmers who need to port applications to other
    UNIX/Motif platforms.  Contact WNDX for pricing.

FUTURE PLANS:
    The Mac platform is still on version 2.03.  The update is currently
    in progress.  The OS/2 platform port is currently on hold due to
    a lack of demand.

.
NAME:
    wxWindows, v1.60

VENDOR:
    Artificial Intelligence Applications Institute
    University of Edinburgh
    80 South Bridge
    Edinburgh
    Scotland
    EH1 1HN

    031 650 2746 (voice)

    Email: J.Smart@ed.ac.uk
    WWW:   http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~jacs/wxwin.html

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a (free-of-charge) C++ library with source (there's also a
    version for the Python language).  For a GUI builder, you can use
    wxBuilder (which is available under MS-Windows or Motif), another
    program they have to translate the output of DevGuide (Sun's XView
    GUI builder) into wxWindows format, or yet another one to allow one
    to use Liant's class browser with the library.

    This package includes hypertext help, printer support (this is
    better than some packages you have to pay for), and some nifty
    graphics capabilities including splines, polylines, and rounded
    rectangles.  It includes the standard menu bars, toolbars, pens,
    brushes, etc.  In addition to all of that, it includes IPC features
    that includes DDE support under MS-Windows *AND* Unix.  A CURSES
    version is in alpha.

    In addition, wxWindows includes timers, filesystem portability
    features, as well as PROLOGIO which allows the user to create
    (apparently, with some limitations) object-oriented, Prolog-
    compatible data files.

COMMENTS:
    To get this software, anonymous ftp it from ftp.aiai.ed.ac.uk; it's
    under /pub/packages.

    This is free software, so one should expect that it has a
    couple of warts relative to the packages for which one would
    pay.  It (according to the author) doesn't stick too closely to
    the style guides of the individual platforms, but "most people
    won't know the difference [... the software has] a long way to
    go before I've used all the features [of the various GUIs]".

    Still, the price is right. . .

FUTURE PLANS:
    Widget management (similar to Motif), automated GUI testing
    facilities, their own GUI builder, and a MS-Windows
    .rc-to-wxWindows converter.  They have a partial Mac port
    completed.

.
NAME:
    XVT Portability Toolkit
        XVT Development Solution for C++ (DSC++) 3.2
        XVT Development Solution for C (DSC) 4.0

VENDOR:
    XVT Software Incorporated
    4900 Pearl East Circle
    Box 18750
    Boulder, CO 80308

    (800) 678-7988 (inquiries)
    (303) 443-4223 (voice)
    (303) 443-0969 (fax)

    Email: info@xvt.com
    WWW:   http://www.xvt.com/

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    XVT comes as either a C-language or C++ (called Power++) library.
    The C solution has bundled with it an interactive design tool and
    code generator.  The C++ solution includes a user interface layout
    tool (XVT-Architect).  XVT provides printing support,
    drag-and-drop, portable help, portable bitmap support (palette
    control provides up to 24 bits of color), powerful portable
    typeface handling capability, and all the standard widgets
    (including toolbar, status bar, and tables)

    In addition, Power++ comes with the Rogue Wave product Tools.h++
    (Tools.h++ provides 135 extra general-purpose classes).

OPTIONS:
    Source Code                         (call)
    XVT Spreadsheet                     $1125 ($650 for PCs)
    XVT Graphical Extensions            $1600 ($895 for PCs)

SUPPORT:
    Free (with updates) for one year.  After that, call for pricing.

COMMENTS:
    XVT is the original PIGUI software.  They seem to provide pretty
    solid support for all the platforms (and, there's a lot) that they
    support.  In addition, the current incarnation of their C++ toolset
    is generally agreed to be substantially better than their original
    entry.

    XVT is receiving major applause for changing their PIGUI approach
    to be more consistent with the rest of the marketplace.  They are
    getting away from a least-common denominator approach (check-out
    their portable help for an example of strides in this area) and
    they are providing more complete packages with fewer optional
    extras (e.g., XVT now bundles their layout tool with their
    products).

    XVT was founded in 1987.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    The user's have said that the manuals are good and extremely
    well organized and that the Designer's test mode actually tests
    the logic (a really helpful feature).  Their tech support is 
    also reportedly pretty good ("wonderous", says one user).

    In the arena of software development, one user says "...at the end
    of 2 weeks we had a fully-functional [medium-sized] application on
    Mac and MOTIF", he goes on to say that the the user-interface was
    redesigned half way through.

    Power++ is said to be a fantastic improvement over their old C++
    product (Design++).  

.
NAME:
    Yet Another Class Library, v1.1

VENDOR:
    M. A. Sridhar
    Department of Computer Science
    University of South Carolina
    Columbia, SC 29208

    (803) 777-2427 (voice)
    (803) 777-3767 (fax)

    Email: sridhar@usceast.cs.scarolina.edu

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    YACL is a free-of-charge general purpose C++ library that includes
    GUI functionality that adheres to the model-view-controller
    paradigm.  Classes provided by YACL include menus, dialogs,
    buttons, listboxes, cursors, fonts, pens, colors, and elementary
    drawing functions.

    The ultimate goal of YACL is to be a rich virtual platform that
    includes container classes and I/O classes as well as GUI
    functionality.

COMMENTS:
    YACL is available via anonymous ftp from ftp.cs.scarolina.edu
    (129.252.131.11), as the file /pub/sridhar/yacl-011.zip.

FUTURE PLANS:
    The rest of the GUI functionality is being ported to Motif.  Versions
    are being considered for OS/2 and the Mac.  In addition, a GUI layout
    designer is currently under development.

.
NAME:
    zApp, V2.0

VENDOR:
    Inmark
    2065 Landings Drive,
    Mountainview, CA 94043

    (800) 3-inmark (inquiries)
    (415) 691-9000 (voice)
    (415) 691-9099 (fax)

    Email: sales@inmark.com

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a full C++ class library.  This product contains over 200
    classes to provide things like DDE support (non-portable), printer
    support, geometry management, and true-type font support.  Included
    in their package is 75 pre-defined forms (as well as the usual
    examples) and source code for the class libraries.

    The software comes with zApp Programmer's Guide (330 pages) and
    zApp Programmer's Reference (833 pages).

OPTIONS:
    zApp Interface Pack, around 100 extra classes like a spreadsheet-
    oriented table class, 3-D toolbars, status lines, and 3-D custom
    controls.  This software comes with the zApp Interface Pack Guide
    (144 pages) and the zApp Interface Pack Reference (158 pages).

    zApp Factory, a drag-n-drop WYSIWYG builder that includes a code 
    generator.  This software comes with the zApp Factory User's Guide
    (213 pages).

    The zApp Developer's Suite includes zApp, the zApp Interface Pack,
    and zApp Factory.  This software comes with the 'Getting Started
    with the Developer's Suite' manual (89 pages).

    zApp offers training, as well.


SUPPORT:
    Basic support is free.  There's also premium support (for extra
    bux) that includes product upgrades.

FUTURE PLANS:
    Mac support (but I wouldn't count on this any time soon).

    zApp (and the zApp Interface Pack) versions 2.2 are scheduled for
    release any minute now.  These releases should have full support
    for DLL's.  The X/Motif version of zApp is currently in limited
    release and will go into general release in early November.  zApp
    Factory will also be released on X/Motif in November.   Inmark is
    also working on a portable help product that will be released early
    next year.


COMMENTS:
    The zApp class libraries were originally coded in C++.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    The customer-interface is great.  Their BBS is said to provide a
    faster response than does CompuServe.

    zApp receives many plaudits.  Many users really like their class
    structure.  One user says "zApp contains without a doubt the
    absolute best C++ code I have ever seen.  It is an amazingly
    simple, intuitive interpretation of GUI and OOP interfaces".
    Another user says, "zApp is an EXCELLENT platform-independent API.
    If you truly must write your code "once" for multiple platforms,
    zApp is the C++ solution to get."  Also revered is the zApp Factory
    tool.

    A big complaint seems to be that zApp is quite apparently
    MS-Windows-oriented.  Many of their classes and idioms don't
    translate well (or at all) to other platforms.  For example, one
    user says "my disappointment [with zApp] stems from my Mac
    expectations."  Another user agrees, "The [MS] Windows version
    works rather better than the OS/2 version".

    In order to do substantial work under MS-DOS Graphics mode, Inmark
    has told users to purchase MEWEL Library.  Another user
    corroborates: "To use zApp in [MS-DOS] Graphics mode you WILL need
    to buy MEWEL Professional [, and a memory extender such as]
    PharLap/286 or Borland PowerPacks".

    A, possibly anachronistic, comment I've heard is "it has A LOT of
    memory leaks".  On the other hand, Inmark has been listening to the
    complaints of it's customers, "We have been very diligent in
    tracking memory leaks and memory issues with zApp.  The latest
    versions of zApp have been verified with [an in-house product,
    SmartHeap, BoundsChecker, and Purify]."

    Other miscellaneous complaints include lack of DLL support, no
    portable help files, and zApp Factory regenerates all source code
    even when only one line is changed.

.
NAME:
    Zinc, V4.0

VENDOR:
    ZINC Software Incorporated
    405 South 100 East 2nd Floor
    Pleasant Grove, UT 84062

    (800) 638 8665 (inquires)
    (801) 785-8900 (voice)
    (801) 785-8996 (fax)
    (801) 785-8997 (bbs)

    Email: tech@zinc.com
    WWW:   http://www.zinc.com/

SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION:
    This is a full C++ class library that comes with the Zinc Designer
    (a WYSIWYG GUI builder).  Their classes include a rather nice error
    system, geometry management, print support, VROOM support (for
    Borland heads), index tabs, status bars, sliders, spinners, some
    graphic capabilities, and a portable, if rudimentary, help system.
    Also included is the source for the library (and for the
    Designer!).

    In addition to the usual GUI stuff, Zinc also provides
    international character support (they have a Unicode version for
    extra bux) and some container classes.  

    The software comes with 4 manuals.  These include 2 reference
    manuals, a getting started manual, and a document covering their
    designer.

OPTIONS:
    They'll provide Unicode at extra cost (price, unspecified).
    Additionally, they provide a video training series (this gives lots
    of Zinc internals detail, but not a lot of relief for the novice
    programmer) for $499.

COMMENTS:
    Zinc's direction seems to be the international market along with
    support for the marketeers-do-the-GUI-while-programmers-do-the-code
    crowd.  That said, they promise that they'll not forget about the
    applications and scientific programmers as they grow.

    To use their product to its fullest, you have to use their GUI
    builder (the only way you can get icons on all platforms, for
    example, is through the Designer).

    Zinc has made big changes to their Designer (their GUI builder)
    targeted, it seems, to provide a comfortable GUI design environment
    for non-programmers.  The updates include easing the addition of
    user-defined widgets to the designer, parallelizing the
    main-design-screen/image-editor/help-editor, and replacing flag
    names with more user-friendly english descriptions.

    They have completely rewritten their manuals (and the crowd goes
    wild...) to reduce the learning curve associated with this
    product.

    Zinc was founded in 1990.

FUTURE PLANS:
    The utilization of the native help system and improved graphics 
    support.

WHAT THE USERS SAY:
    Users praise the look and feel under DOS.

    Many complain about the lack of intuitive feel of the API.
    Personally, I think that the API is pretty good but the
    documentation does a really poor job of explaining it.

REVIEWER'S IMPRESSIONS:
    Once you get used to the paradigm, it *is* pretty straight-forward
    to program.  Their improved documentation is a big help and shows
    off some of Zinc's more powerful features.  In addition, the
    software is becoming more robust with each release.

.
VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the many netters that have helped give information and
general impressions of the software packages listed here.  Also thanks
to the vendors for keeping this FAQ accurate and up-to-date.

In specific, I'd like to thank Eric Raymond (esr@snark.thyrsus.com),
'cause I stole his UNIX FAQ format for use here.  Thanks, Eric.

I looked at some articles about GUIs for information.  Those include:

    Steve Apiki, "Paths to Platform Independence", Byte, January
    1994, pp. 172-178

    Richard Chimera, carm@cs.umd.edu, "Evaluation of Platform 
    Independent Interface Builders", Human-Computer Interaction 
    Laboratory, University of Maryland, dated March 1993.

    Carl Dichter, "One For All. . .", UNIX Review, October 1993,
    pp. 65-74

    Thomas Murhpy, "Looking at the world through cheap sunglasses",
    Computer Language, February 1993, pp. 63-85

    UNIX Review Staff, "Outstanding Products of 1993", UNIX Review,
    December 1993, pp. 47-54

    Scott Mace, "Windows-to-Mac bridge now open", InfoWorld, Nov. 7,
    1994, p21

-- 
Wade Guthrie                     | "You can't let him in here, he'd see the
wade@nb.rockwell.com             | Big Board!"
I don't speak for Rockwell.      | 
