Xref: utzoo comp.windows.x:13725 comp.windows.news:1541
Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!bellcore!spectral!sjs
From: sjs@spectral.ctt.bellcore.com (Stan Switzer)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x,comp.windows.news
Subject: HP's 3D UI style
Message-ID: <17707@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 25 Sep 89 13:38:23 GMT
Sender: news@bellcore.bellcore.com
Reply-To: sjs@bellcore.com (Stan Switzer)
Organization: Bellcore
Lines: 24

I am rather impressed by the visual impact of HP's 3D UI style.
Apparently, HP claims a copyright on this look.  This raises a number
of questions:

1) Exactly what rights does HP reserve regarding the use of the style?

2) Does a user of HP's libraries have any obligation to uphold the
"spirit" of the look.

3) Can a user define new 3D widgets (e.g. a bar-graph widget), and if
so what claim does HP have on the new widget or any applications that
the user builds using those widgets?

4) Suppose that someone developed a set of widgets for a different
windowing system that were quite similar to HP's in general look and
feel?  Suppose he put them in the public domain?

5) How does HP feel about the NeXT look and feel?  Likewise, how does
NeXT feel about HP's 3D widgets?  They look pretty similar to me.

Post or mail your opinions, as you prefer.  If you feel you can make
any authoritative statements, however, please mail them to me.

Stan Switzer  sjs@bellcore.com