3 ms·

I know Don Hopkins hangs out here sometimes, but the big question is did NeWS source code ever get liberated from the depths of Mordoracle?

panick21_ 3y ago
I don't really know. I was just trying to come up with some obscure references. Solaris on desktop wasn't crazy enough. I think a modern take on NeWS style system would use Webassembly style system with capability based access rather then PostScript and no security. Basically a modern browser with Canves/WebGL and without a lot of other stuff a browser does. Would have been a interesting alternative to the Wayland approach. Kind of sad that Scott McNealy didn't have the balls to open it up. Having some real competition to X in the 90s would have been a cool. Specially if Sun had pushed it at least somewhat.
DonHopkins 3y ago
Naw, Sun never liberated it. Sun did announced "NeWS is Free (only $1000)" which was kind of a kick in the balls and abuse of the word "free". "Free (only $1000)" discussion on usenet: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/-G1l_372AP8/m/-fehRpGlKB0J https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/-G1l_372AP8/... https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/YtZzYMZ587M/m/GaUUH1-qhRQJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/YtZzYMZ587M/... https://groups.google.com/g/comp.org.sug/c/IXcXK7hKgUQ/m/nf8pkDIG01gJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.org.sug/c/IXcXK7hKgUQ/m/nf8... A couple of my flames about the situation: https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/Explanation.txt https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/Explanation.txt https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/sevans.txt https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/sevans.txt And to cleanse the palette, DSRH's epic "Sun Deskset == Roy Lichtenstein Painting on your Bedroom Wall" flame (David SH Rosenthal was one of the original authors of NeWS, with James Gosling, and also wrote the X11 ICCCM): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38768724 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38768724

panick21_ 3y ago

I don't really know. I was just trying to come up with some obscure references. Solaris on desktop wasn't crazy enough. I think a modern take on NeWS style system would use Webassembly style system with capability based access rather then PostScript and no security. Basically a modern browser with Canves/WebGL and without a lot of other stuff a browser does. Would have been a interesting alternative to the Wayland approach. Kind of sad that Scott McNealy didn't have the balls to open it up. Having some real competition to X in the 90s would have been a cool. Specially if Sun had pushed it at least somewhat.

DonHopkins 3y ago

Naw, Sun never liberated it. Sun did announced "NeWS is Free (only $1000)" which was kind of a kick in the balls and abuse of the word "free". "Free (only $1000)" discussion on usenet: https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/-G1l_372AP8/m/-fehRpGlKB0J https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/-G1l_372AP8/... https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/YtZzYMZ587M/m/GaUUH1-qhRQJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.windows.news/c/YtZzYMZ587M/... https://groups.google.com/g/comp.org.sug/c/IXcXK7hKgUQ/m/nf8pkDIG01gJ https://groups.google.com/g/comp.org.sug/c/IXcXK7hKgUQ/m/nf8... A couple of my flames about the situation: https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/Explanation.txt https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/Explanation.txt https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/sevans.txt https://www.donhopkins.com/home/archive/NeWS/sevans.txt And to cleanse the palette, DSRH's epic "Sun Deskset == Roy Lichtenstein Painting on your Bedroom Wall" flame (David SH Rosenthal was one of the original authors of NeWS, with James Gosling, and also wrote the X11 ICCCM): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38768724 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38768724