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1993-01-27
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NeXT Nugget News Digest (vol. 2, issue 4, March 11, 1992)
*** Special Release 3.0 issue ***
Here is a outline of NeXTstep Release 3.0 items:
Availability is slated for Q2 - 1992.
It will be distributed on CD-ROM.
See a special CD-ROM promotion announcement in a future Nugget Digest.
conrad
_____________________
NeXTstep 3.0 FEATURES
User Features
Networking & Connectivity:
* Novell client support
* Appleshare client support
* Macintosh file system
* DOS file system improvements
* ISDN networking w/external hardware by Hayes, $349 suggested retail
* CD-ROM support
- Booting from CD-ROMs
- ISO 9660, High Serria, and RockRidge formats
Applications:
* On-line Help
- Hypertext links
- Click for help
* Encrypted mail messages
- Public key paradigm
- Field Elliptical Encryption (FEE) algorithm
* FAX improvements
- Better cover sheets
- Deferred sending
- Sending to groups
- Multiple people can view incoming FAXs
* Localized NeXT Applications
- English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, and
Japanese available
* Icon Builder
- replaces Icon
- allows users to write dynamically loaded drawing tools
* Better printer support
- PPD support
- Non-PostScript printer support (e.g. Epson LQ510)
* PostScript Level 2
* Pantone color matching now bundled
* Calibrated color
Workspace:
* File encryption (FEE) and compression from Workspace
* Text file searching from the Workspace
* More color in the Workspace
Developer Features
Kits:
* DB Kit - SQL database palettes
* 3D Kit - real time and photo-realistic Renderman
* Phone Kit - ISDN programming kit
* Indexing Kit - search and retrieval functionality
Other:
* Distributed Objects - allows for calling objects in other
applications and across the network
* NeXTlinks - allows dynamic linking of data between applications
* Filters
* Dragging
* Workspace request
* Precompiled headers - greatly increases compile time
* Sound Kit enhancements
- Multiple sounds now able to play simultaneously
* MIDI time code syncing improved
Developer Apps:
* Project Builder
* Interface Builder
- Support for building on-line help into apps
- Project management functionality moved into Project Builder
- More Appkit features accessible graphically
* gdb now incorporated into Edit and Project Builder
NeXTstep Release 3.0
NeXTstep Release 3.0 is a new generation of NeXTstep object-oriented
system software. Its enhancements meet the continually evolving
needs of work groups, developers and system administrators. Significantly,
any application written under NeXTstep Release 2.x will not only run in
Release 3.0, but due to NeXTstep's object-orientation will automatically
take advantage of many Release 3.0 features. This compatibility is an
important consideration for all existing NeXTstep users and developers.
Release 3.0's advancements show most vividly in its improvements to
connectivity/communications, client-server computing, color, usability, global
computing and better-than-ever custom application development capabilities.
The new capabilities of Release 3.0 build upon those in Release 2.x.
CONNECTIVITY/COMMUNICATIONS
NeXTstep Release 2.0 supported TCP/IP, NFS and Ethernet networking
(both thin and twisted-pair Ethernet), which allowed NeXT computers to
communicate easily with other UNIX workstations and with a variety of networks.
Release 3.0 takes NeXTstep much further toward its goal of communicating
with everything. In fact, NeXT leads the UNIX market in connecting
outside the UNIX environment. Now NeXTstep users can share data with
DOS, OS/2, Windows, Macintosh and UNIX computers, as well as a number of
local-area networks (LANs) and wide-area networks (WANs). As a result,
customers can preserve their current investments in hardware, software and
information as work groups make the transition to NeXTstep computers.
Release 3.0 opens up the computing worlds of two important personal
computer-based network systems, Novell (IBM PC/comp.) and AppleShare(Macintosh).
It bundles NOVELL CLIENT software, for access to files and PostScript
printers on Novell NetWare networks, and APPLE SHARE CLIENT software, which
allows NeXTstep computers to access files and PostScript printers on Apple's
AppleTalk networks. NetWare and AppleShare dominate the markets for IBM PC/
compatible and Macintosh networks. In Release 3.0, Novell and AppleShare file
servers appear in the NeXT browser much as NFS servers currently do, making
their files and network resources readily available to NeXTstep users.
Bundling these NetWare and EtherTalk capabilities into NeXTstep
represents a number of firsts: the first UNIX Novell Client ever; the
first bundled Novell Client from any OEM; and the first bundled AppleShare
Client on any platform other than the Macintosh. Release 3.0 also
adds MACINTOSH FILE SYSTEM support to its existing DOS file system support.
In other words, a Macintosh floppy disk inserted into a NeXT floppy
drive, or any Macintosh SCSI-based disk (including a CD-ROM) connected
to a NeXT system, automatically mounts and appears in the NeXT browser,
integrated within the UNIX file system. NeXTstep users can then edit and
manipulate these files as easily as any other files in the browser.
Through a new PHONE KIT and a partnership between NeXT and
Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., NeXTstep Release 3.0 makes it easier
for developers to create applications that take advantage of the latest
communications technologies. Hayes has introduced a telecommunication
network interface module for NeXT workstations that provides
ISDN Basic Rate Access, in addition to POTS (plain old telephone service)
connectivity. The Hayes product can be used for remote LAN connections
plus high-speed, digitized voice, data and multimedia applications.
ISDN, or Integrated Services Digital Network, is a high-speed,
multi-channel system that can carry both voice and data information
simultaneously over the same line. It extends the benefits of
local-area networking to global, on-demand wide-area networking.
The PhoneKit included in NeXTstep Release 3.0 provides simple
access to the Hayes interface hardware's telephone voice and data functions.
With the PhoneKit, developers can quickly and easily build a new
generation of telephone-based applications, such as answering machines and
speed dialers, that are controlled entirely through a NeXTstep computer.
Besides requiring no additional telephone hardware, these NeXTstep
applications can work with both POTS and ISDN technology, automatically.
CLIENT-SERVER COMPUTING
One part of the connectivity story that NeXT itself does not offer is a
complete, dedicated server. Servers are much more than just a computer
with a big hard disk; they include custom hardware and software to provide
files and resources across a network and to run server-based applications
such as databases. Many well-established hardware companies, however
including Auspex, DEC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Pyramid, Sequent, Sun and
Teradata P provide high-quality servers, and NeXTstep works seamlessly as a
client to all of them.
Instead of expending resources developing and producing
server hardware, NeXT has chosen to focus on building the best desktop
computers and system software in the industry. An important facet of
this commitment to the desktop is enabling NeXTstep customers to take
advantage of existing servers from within their Release 3.0 environment.
A crucial connectivity capability of Release 3.0 is at the database
software level. NeXTstep works seamlessly with the most popular commercial
databases available today, such as those from Oracle, Sybase and Teradata.
In addition, Release 3.0 introduces the NeXT DATABASE KIT, which
extends the power of NeXTstep's object-oriented capabilities to the development
of database applications. Database Kit (DBKit) provides a single, consistent
interface to databases from multiple vendors, so that NeXTstep programmers
can create their own database-driven applications five to ten times
faster than developers using other development environments, such as Sun.
DBKit is designed to work with many different types of database
(e.g., SQL, hierarchical) and any kind of data (e.g., traditional text and
numbers, as well as multimedia images, sound and rich text). DBKit consists
of an impressive suite of software objects and methods that radically
shorten the time required to design and implement database applications
that have graphical user interfaces.
As with all NeXTstep objects, the objects in DBKit can be used "as is" or
can be customized for a particular need. As a result, DBKit-based applications
are both flexible and extensible, and they do not restrict developers to
only those capabilities that a given database vendor provides. Developers
can concentrate on what their database application should do, rather than
how it needs to work.
Applications created with DBKit objects can cut, copy and paste data from
other NeXTstep applications. In addition, they can request Services from
other applications, such as the Digital Webster (Webster's Ninth New
Collegiate Dictionary and Collegiate Thesaurus), Digital Librarian or
NeXTmail. Developers can easily construct sophisticated DBKit database
applications to access mathematical models in Mathematica, to send numerical
information to Lotus Improv for charting or analysis, or to tie into similar
capabilities of other NeXTstep applications.
The DBKit architecture includes separate layers for user interface and data
access, as well as adaptors that translate data source-independent queries
into function calls for a specific vendor's database. This
layered architecture, with only one layer that is dependent on a specific
database, allows applications to access new data sources without rewriting
user interfaces or application logic. Also, within an application users
can gain access to multiple data sources simultaneously. Release 3.0
ships adaptors that allow connections to any Oracle or Sybase database, as
well as customizable tools for creating adaptors for other databases.
COLOR
Color is important to increasing numbers of NeXTstep users, and
Release 3.0 includes a number of new state-of-the-art color capabilities.
For example, it uses true color P i.e., full 24-bit color P throughout
the system. Icons and other information in the WORKSPACE now appear in
color on MegaPixel Color Display monitors, and all third-party and custom
applications can gain access to true-color capabilities automatically.
Release 3.0 completely integrates Adobe's newest PostScript release,
known as Level 2. To the original PostScript page description language,
the POSTSCRIPT LEVEL 2 language adds support for calibrated color output,
imaging filters for faster printing and pattern support. In this way, the
same language draws color images to the screen for display and to a color
printer for hardcopy output, bringing consistent color output to users.
NeXTstep is the first shipping implementation of a Level 2 Display PostScript
interpreter.
NeXTstep's use of PostScript Level 2 capabilities is backwards-
compatible with all PostScript devices, meaning that NeXTstep
users can automatically print both to PostScript Level 1 output devices
and to Level 2 devices such as NeXT's newly introduced color printer.
To further aid users in selecting device-independent colors, NeXTstep
Release 3.0 bundles the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM, the premier standard for
specifying colors in printed output. As with the support for Level 2
calibrated colors, support for the Pantone System is available in all
NeXT applications through the standard NeXTstep Color Panel.
Another important new object-based kit in NeXTstep Release 3.0 is
the 3D GRAPHICS KIT (3DKit). Based on the RENDERMAN standard, 3DKit lets
developers easily add three-dimensional graphics to existing NeXTstep
applications, without becoming 3D experts. At the same time, it provides
the necessary object and rendering framework for building sophisticated
3D applications from scratch.
Pixar's RenderMan software provides the industry standard for
creating computer-based pictures that contain all the qualities of real life,
such as shadings, reflections, texture and motion blur. NeXTstep Release
3.0 incorporates two components of Pixar's complete family of RenderMan
products: full PhotoRealistic RenderMan and Interactive RenderMan.
PhotoRealistic RenderMan creates photographic-quality
images on both the computer screen and in hard-copy output. It is a
rendering technology, where rendering refers to the process of generating a
computer image of a three-dimensional model from a description of its
geometry and other characteristics. The PhotoRealistic RenderMan bundled
in Release 3.0 is the same software used to render Pixar's Academy Award-
winning film, Tin Toy, and other groundbreaking computer animation films.
Interactive RenderMan provides a unified imaging model for 3D,
just as the Display PostScript language does for 2D. Application programmers
can describe their 3D scene in the same way whether the scene is being
drawn interactively on the screen or rendered photorealistically for output
on paper or to a film recorder. The NeXTstep software automatically
supports printing from applications incorporating 3D graphics.
With RenderMan as its base, 3DKit can render 3D images both
interactively and photorealistically to the screen. Its unified 3D imaging
model, coordinating between on-screen and printed images, is especially
important in the 3D graphics world, where what you see is rarely what you get.
Applications based on 3DKit will allow 3D graphics to blend
seamlessly into a user's environment. Users will be able to do everything
with 3DKit-based applications that they can do with 2D: cut, copy,
paste, mail, print, use Services, draw, modify and so on. Integrated 3D
graphics, as made possible by NeXTstep Release 3.0, will greatly enrich
the communication potential for every NeXTstep individual and work group.
NeXT's new 360 dpi, four-color COLOR PRINTER is completely integrated in
to NeXTstep's printing software, including the PrintPanel Object, which is
part of the Application Kit. As a result, NeXTstep applications need do
nothing extra to generate color printed output. In fact, because NeXTstep's
color capabilities are not tied directly to the display screen, even users
with monochrome NeXT computers and displays can specify colors in their
work and print in color to any color printer supported through NeXTstep.
GENERAL USABILITY AND INTERPERSONAL COMPUTING
With NeXTstep, users having no familiarity with the UNIX operating
system can comfortably navigate NeXT's UNIX-based system. They can take
advantage of interpersonal computing capabilities, which in NeXT's parlance
means a computing environment that promotes group, as opposed to individual,
productivity. These capabilities are a direct result of NeXTstep's
object-oriented nature, which makes all the features available
automatically to any developer writing an application for NeXTstep.
The cornerstone of this group productivity is NeXTmail,
an integrated, multimedia electronic mail system that lets NeXTstep
users send anything they can create on their computers to any other
networked NeXTstep user. Recipients can use the received message on their
own computers just as they would any other application, document, sound,
image or other information. Using simple text-based contents, NeXTmail
users can also communicate through their computers with users of other
platforms and mail systems, including UNIX Mail, MCI Mail and many more.
NeXTstep Release 2.x introduced a new approach to faxing documents
from the computer P making it as easy as printing a document P as well
as a range of other ease-of-use features inherent in the sophisticated GUI.
NeXTstep Release 3.0 takes all its predecessor's interpersonal
computing and usability features and pushes them one step further.
Release 3.0 expands the ability to share files, printers (from various
vendors), fax modems and CD-ROM drives among networked users. For example,
incoming faxes residing on a fax server can be viewed by multiple users,
rather than only by the user at the machine actually connected to the fax
modem. NeXTfax software now includes the ability to create separate cover
sheets for each recipient on a distribution list. Release 3.0 also lets
networks of NeXTstep users share a single CD-ROM drive, which makes NeXT's
CD-ROM distribution of system software a very cost-effective approach.
In addition to the two NeXT printers (the 400dpi Laser Printer
and the new Color Printer) and generic PostScript printers, NeXTstep Release
3.0 will support additional popular printers, including Epson and IBM
ProPrinter dot matrix printers.
NeXTstep Release 3.0 introduces an integrated, multimedia on-line
HYPERTEXT HELP system. This Help feature can provide instant assistance in
Release 3.0-compliant versions of NeXTstep applications; users simply click on
anything in the application and request Help, and a standard panel appears,
offering context-sensitive information. The Help system lets users
learn new applications as they work, without taking time out for training.
The new NeXTstep workspace supports both ENCRYPTION and COMPRESSION,
for concealing the contents of files or for squeezing them so they
take up less disk space. The compression feature, which compresses files
into an average of half the space, appears as a selection in the workspace
File menu. Encryption is supported in the workspace and in NeXTmail.
Release 3.0's public key encryption capabilities will be
especially useful for NeXTmail messages, which often pass through
various servers en route to a final destination. In the past, at each
stop anyone with access to the mail system could theoretically have read
the contents of mail messages. For messages containing sensitive or secure
information, electronic mail delivery posed a potential privacy problem.
The public key encryption method works as follows: Users
wanting to send sensitive information to one person only, without risking
unauthorized access, encrypt the message using the recipient's published
"public key." The recipient maintains a completely secret "private key" P a
password P that is associated with this public key and that is necessary
for decrypting the received file. The machine will only decrypt the
message and make it readable for someone who inputs the private key.
SYSTEM ADMINISTRATORS will also see improvements in NeXTstep
Release 3.0. In addition to the system administration applications
provided in NeXTstep Release 2.x, the new release has Simple Network Starter,
an application that allows non-expert system administrators to set up a
small- to medium-sized NeXT-only network quickly and easily. This new
application can configure a computer as a server of mail, home directory
files, Local Applications and so on, and allows additional client
machines to be connected to the network with no extra configuration.
NeXTstep Release 3.0 also includes an NFS Manager utility for
helping administrators to manage exporting and mounting of NFS file systems.
Custom Application Development
With Release 2.x, NeXTstep's custom application development
has already been hailed as the best in the industry. Most of the credit
goes to the powerful and complete Application Kit objects and to Interface
Builder, which lets developers graphically edit the objects in a software
application using little or no programming.
NeXTstep's custom application capabilities are even stronger with
Release 3.0's additional software object kits, described earlier in this
document: Database Kit (DBKit), for quickly constructing graphical database
applications that are independent of any specific database engine; 3D Graphics
Kit (3DKit), based on Pixar's RenderMan standard, which provides photorealistic
images and on-screen manipulation of three-dimensional objects; and PhoneKit,
for taking advantage of high-speed voice and data transmission such as ISDN.
In a major extension of its object-oriented paradigm, NeXTstep
Release 3.0 also introduces DISTRIBUTED OBJECTS. With the advent of
Distributed Objects, developers can not only send messages between objects
within a single application, but also send those same messages between
different applications, machines and networks. As a result, a new generation
of work group applications becomes possible.
Many features of Release 3.0, including the Workspace Manager, text
objects, spell checking mechanism and others, rely extensively on Distributed
Objects. In addition, Distributed Objects are the basis of NeXTLINKS, a
multimedia hyperlinking system that helps work groups share dynamic information.
With NeXTlinks, documents can share information such that changes
made in one document are automatically reflected in the linked document.
These powerful data links, made possible through Distributed Objects,
make it easier for work groups to produce collaborative documents and
to be sure that they are always working with the most current information.
FUTURE IMPLICATIONS
For the past three years, NeXT has proven that object-oriented
programming and object-oriented system software are not more pie-in-the-sky
examples of industry hype. With Release 3.0, NeXT has once again raised the
bar for the entire industry, setting a standard that others must follow to
compete.
NeXT has also taken an important new step with its object-oriented
system software: It has opened it up to platforms beyond its own through
NeXTstep 486. NeXTstep 486 is a version of NeXTstep 3.0 that can run on
computers based on Intel's 80486 processor, one of the most popular processors
in the personal computer world. NeXTstep 486 takes all the application
development and user capabilities that have made the object-oriented NeXTstep
revolutionary, and opens them up to the huge installed base of 486 users.
The implications of this move for the computer industry are dramatic.
As soon as programmers, both commercial and in-house
custom application developers, discover first-hand how an object-oriented
environment can revolutionize their lives, they never turn back willingly to
the old ways. NeXT is committed to the continued improvement of NeXTstep
to meet the evolving demands of end users and application developers.
___________________
end