View source for OpenWindows

{{short description|Computer desktop environment}}
{{Redirect|Open Windows|the film|Open Windows (film)}}
{{Infobox software
| logo = <!-- [[File: ]] -->
| screenshot = [[File:openwindows.jpg|250px|A screenshot of OpenWindows running the Mozilla web browser open to the front page of the English Wikipedia. The default DeskSet tools appear at the bottom of the screen.]]
| caption = OpenWindows running the Mozilla web browser. The default DeskSet tools appear at the bottom of the screen.
| collapsible = 
| author = 
| developer = [[Sun Microsystems]]
| released = 1989 <!-- {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=yes/no}} -->
| discontinued = Yes
| latest release version = v3.6.2
| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2000|02}}
| programming language = 
| operating system = [[SunOS]], [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]], [[SVR4]]
| platform = [[PowerPC]], [[SPARC]], [[x86]], [[x86-64]]
| size = 
| language = 
| genre = [[Desktop environment]]
| license = Proprietary
| website = {{URL|http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19455-01/806-2901/index.html}}
}}
'''OpenWindows''' is a discontinued [[desktop environment]] for [[Sun Microsystems]] [[workstation]]s which combined a [[display server]] supporting the [[X Window System]] protocol, the [[XView]] and [[OLIT]] toolkits, the OPEN LOOK Window Manager ([[olwm]]), and the [[DeskSet]] productivity tools; earlier versions of OpenWindows also supported the [[NeWS]] protocol. It implements the [[OPEN LOOK]] [[GUI]] specification.

OpenWindows was included in later releases of the [[SunOS]] 4 and [[Solaris (operating system)|Solaris]] [[operating system]]s, until its removal in Solaris 9 in favor of [[Common Desktop Environment]] (CDE) and [[GNOME]] 2.0.

== History ==
OpenWindows 1.0 was released in 1989 as a separately licensed addition to [[SunOS]] 4.0,{{ref|ow10announce}} replacing the older [[SunView]] (originally "SunTools") [[windowing system]].  Its core is the "'''xnews''' server", a hybrid window server that as its name implies supports both [[X11]] and [[NeWS]]-based applications.  The server can also display legacy SunView applications, although this functionality was not well-supported. (A standalone NeWS windowing system was also available for a time, but was never the primary SunOS windowing environment.) Starting with SunOS 4.1.1 in 1990, OpenWindows 2.0 was bundled with the operating system.

Solaris 2.0, the first release of the successor to SunOS 4, included OpenWindows 3.0.1.  Starting with Solaris 2.3 in late 1993, Sun switched to a standard [[X11R5]] release of X11. It was still called OpenWindows (now version 3.3), but the NeWS protocol was replaced by support for [[Display PostScript]]. Support for SunView applications was removed.  The graphical look and feel of the window manager and tools is still based on [[OPEN LOOK]].  Solaris 7 featured OpenWindows 3.6.1, with an X11R6.4 server.{{ref|solarisfaq}}

In 1993, Sun and the other major Unix vendors of the time formed the [[Common Open Software Environment|COSE]] alliance, seeking further standardization among their Unix releases.  The alliance chose the [[Motif (software)|Motif]] look and feel as its standard, and Sun announced it would phase out OpenWindows in favor of the new COSE desktop environment, which came to be known as [[Common Desktop Environment|CDE]].

The last release of OpenWindows is version 3.6.2, included in Solaris 8. With the release of Solaris 9 in 2002, the removal of OpenWindows support from Solaris finally began, as the OPEN LOOK DeskSet tools, OLIT and XView development tools, and olwm were removed. Support for running and displaying applications built with XView or OLIT remains in both Solaris 9 and Solaris 10, but the necessary libraries are no longer included in Solaris 11 and later releases.

== Open source development ==
A project called "OWAcomp", the "OpenWindows Augmented Compatibility Environment", aims to make it possible to use the OpenWindows Deskset environment on Solaris 9, 10 (Sparc and x86) and Linux (x86).  There is also a project hosted at [[SourceForge.net]] called "openlook" that is based on OpenWindows. As of July 2007, it is quite [[Linux]]-centric. Some OpenWindows applications were never released as open source by Sun, so some of these have been rewritten and some are still missing.

== See also ==
* [[Xsun]]

== References ==
# {{note|ow10announce}} [http://groups.google.com/group/comp.windows.x/msg/df559fa8e961a52b?hl=en& OpenWindows 1.0 announcement]
# {{note|solarisfaq1}} [ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/Solaris2/FAQ Solaris FAQ]{{dead link|date=May 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

== External links ==
* {{SourceForge|owacomp|OpenWindows Augmented Compatibility Environment}}
* {{SourceForge|openlook|OpenLook Desktop}}

{{X desktop environments and window managers}}
{{Sun Microsystems}}

[[Category:Sun Microsystems software]]
[[Category:Desktop environments]]
[[Category:1989 software]]