can run in th
e OS/2 Workplace Shell without a browser, just like native applications.
The Workplace Shell also extends the metaphor of files and folders to networked resources. Users can easily create folders and icons that represent nearby servers on LANs or distant servers on the Internet and then manipulate those resources as if they were local drives and directories.
In Mac OS 8, scheduled for release this summer, Apple is providing desktop icons to launch the user's preferred Web and e-mail clients (which will be bundled), plus a menu item that automatically launches the appropriate client software when a user pastes any URL into a pop-up dialog box. Apple also plans to bundle a "push" client, such as PointCast, with Mac OS 8. But not until a later release will Mac users get true desktop integration of dynamic Web content, clickable live links to URLs, and Apple's long-delayed V-Twin search engine, which spans local and remote resources.
Both Apple and IBM have bigger plans for the
future. Apple's Rhapsody -- the next-generation OS based on NextStep -- will include the OpenStep Virtual Desktop. It's a location-independent NUI that preserves all local state on a server, so users can access their personalized desktops from any networked client. The wiring behind it is NetInfo -- client/server software that provides remote administration and directory services. NetInfo automatically configures new clients and determines which domains they can access.
IBM is developing an evolutionary NUI that offers a middle-ground alternative between thin-client NCs and fat-client PCs. Code-named "Bluebird," it replaces the Workplace Shell in Warp with a lightweight, network-centric shell that rides atop the OS/2 kernel. It has a default desktop that runs Java applets without a browser, but administrators can substitute a Web browser, a "green-screen" terminal emulator, or any custom application as the default environment.
Bluebird is a compromise between NCs and PCs because it runs on standar
d x86-based systems but also stores local state on a server and uses the local hard drive as a software cache. Thus, it offers some advantages of an NC while maintaining compatibility with existing hardware.
IBM says it designed Bluebird because some large corporate customers asked for a low-cost solution that will ease the transition to NCs. "Customers are asking how to get to the new Java model while still leveraging their existing applications on multiple platforms," explains John Albee, IBM OS/2 Warp program manager.
Albee says Bluebird will ship to corporate customers this summer. In concept, it's similar to Microsoft's NetPC initiative and Zero Administration for Windows (ZAW) -- a slimmer-client alternative to NCs that builds on today's PC standards (see "PCs Strike Back," May BYTE).
What's NUI with OS/2 and the Mac
