Common Desktop Environment Developers Conference Scheduled for October 26-29, 1993

UniForum Association Chosen as Event Sponsor

JUNE 30, 1993--Hewlett-Packard Company, IBM Corporation, The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc., SunSoft, Inc., Univel and UNIX System Laboratories, Inc., today announced that they have selected the UniForum Association to sponsor the first U.S. developers conference for desktop technologies being developed under the common open software environment process.

The Common Open Desktop Environment Developers Conference will be held October 26-28 at the San Jose Convention Center. It will provide a forum for application developers, multi-platform software suppliers, end users, systems integrators and original equipment manufacturers to learn the technical details about writing and integrating applications for the common desktop environment.

The conference will feature panel discussions, papers, tutorials and demonstrations of the common desktop environment. The common desktop environment is the innovative, intuitive, easy-to-use desktop computing environment that will be the base for a new evolution in UNIX system desktop interfaces. It will allow software developers to create applications that look and behave the same way when used across multiple UNIX systems that use the common desktop environment interface.

The common desktop environment interface incorporates aspects of HP's Visual User Environment (VUE); IBM's Common User Access model and Workplace Shell; the Open Software Foundations' Motif toolkit and Window Manager; SunSoft's ToolTalk software with an incorporated HP Encapsulator, and OPEN LOOK and DeskSet productivity tools; and USL's UNIX SVR4.2 desktop manager components and scalable systems technologies.

"We support the common open software environment process 100 percent, and we are enthusiastic about the opportunities for growth that it presents to the open systems community," said Richard Jaross, UniForum's executive director. "We are planning an intensive conference that will bring developers all the information they need to begin incorporating common desktop environment specifications into their software programs."

The conference will include sessions by the technology developers, and attendees will receive an early release of the software and documentation. Information on how to register for the conference can be obtained by calling 800-225-4698. The UniForum Association is offering free membership in the Association to attendees as well, and can be reached at 800-225-5620. Conferences in Europe and the Far East are also being planned.

The common open software environment process was announced by HP, IBM, SCO, SunSoft, Univel and USL in March 1993. It is intended to expedite the adoption of standards and promote greater consistency and interoperability among UNIX system products in the industry.

Based in Santa Clara, Calif., UniForum is a not-for-profit vendor independent association for users, developers and vendors of open systems. Since 1981, the association has been a forum for the promotion and exchange of information about the benefits of open systems and related hardware, software, applications and standards. UniForum has over 80 corporate sponsors and 7,000 members worldwide.

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Trademarks: IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation. Open Software Foundations and Motif are trademarks of the Open Software Foundations. SCO is a trademark of The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. ToolTalk, DeskSet, and SunSoft are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. OPEN LOOK and UNIX are registered trademarks of UNIX System Laboratories, Inc. Univel is a trademark of Univel. X/Open is a trademark of X/Open Company Ltd.