[Last modified: Sept 94]

Answer: [For more current information, see  also the subjects which follow
this one.]

    NOTE: This info dates back to a Nov. '93 conference.
    Most of the words should be credited to the lecturer,
    Nicholas J. Aiuto (nick@ps.quotron.com) of Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Any mistakes or inaccuracies are mine, however.
    I would appreciate updates and corrections...kenton@nojunk.rahul.net

COSE is Common Open Software Environment, a major interoperability effort
started by HP, Sun, Novell/UNIX System Labs (USL), IBM, and SCO, with over 70
other companies pledging their support. The COSE announcement was made in
March, 1993 and a "COSE CDE Conference" was held in San Jose in October, 1993.

CDE is the Common Desktop Environment component of COSE. CDE is "a
specification for components and services to give the UNIX desktop common and
consistent capabilities like those found in other widely used environments
(Mac, Windows)." [from class notes] CDE is not public domain; it will be
provided by major vendors, possibly at extra cost as unbundled s/w
approximately mid 1994.  CDE will be based on Motif 1.2 and X11R5, although
Motif 2.0 and X11R6 are expected around the same time. (CDE will be ported to
Motif 2.0 eventually.)

A CD-ROM was distributed at the October, 1993 conference, but this was "alpha"
s/w, strictly for evaluation purposes, not for development.

Another COSE/CDE Snapshot CD-ROM was released in April '94, available for HP,
IBM, Novell, and Sun platforms.

Overview
--------

Standards are to be defined in these areas:

        - desktop
        - networking
        - objects
        - graphics
        - system management

CDE Functional Groups:

    High Level:
        - Desktop Management
        - Productivity Tools

    Low Level:
        - GUI Display and Printing
        - Application Integration
        - "Guidelines": a 100+ pg. checklist which is a superset of Motif's

CDE Desktop Management
----------------------

 - Login Manager: like xdm
 - Session Manager: saving state based on ICCCM and HP's VUE [vuesession]
 - Workspace Manager: virtual screens; rooms; virtual win mgr
 - Front Panel: object and window management; access to favorite apps
 - File Manager: icon drag and drop
 - Application Manager
 - Style Manager: configure Session Mgr (colors, fonts, HOME session)

Productivity Tools
------------------

 - Text Editor: based on XmText widget; not very fancy
 - Icon Editor: color pixmaps; based on HP's vueicon; need 16 icons per app
 - Help Viewer: can access app help without running application
 - Mailer and Calendar: can talk to each other
 - Terminal Emulator: improvement on xterm
 - Calculator
 - Create "Action": something you tell your system to do and associate with
                   a specific icon (e.g., starting a favorite app); can also
                   tag a specific command line and add to your desktop

GUI Display and Printing
------------------------

 - Motif 1.2 with extras, X11R5
 - New widgets (subclasses of similar widgets to be in Motif 2.0):
        o  ComboBox
        o  SpinButton

 - dtksh: windowing Korn shell, a robust UNIX shell interface to X, Xlib, and
Xm
 - Application Builder: port of Sun's DevGuide [not yet available]
 - X Print Server and X Server Print Extension

Application Integration
-----------------------

 - Data Interchange
        o  Drag and Drop (DND): based on Motif 1.2 with improvements
        o  Bento container format:
                "Japanese lunchbox"
                compartmented container developed by Apple;
                stores compound document on disk;
                apps can find audio compartment, for example
                100-page document describes Bento
 - ToolTalk
        o  messaging/IPC facility developed by Sun
        o  CDE message sets (sample msgsd: iconify yourself, close down, etc.)
 - Actions
        o define what can be done with files or arbitrary data (e.g., audio)
 - Data Typing
        o define data classes for objects (e.g., PS file, C source code)

Guidelines
----------

 - Common Fonts (about 16): proportional, monospaced, with or without serif
 - Internationalization (I18N) compliance
 - Client/Server
        o Network execution model
        o end user model
        o system admin model: facilitates easy installation of new
                              CDE-compliant apps
        o ISV model
 - Certification Checklist: 100 pages; superset of Motif 1.2 Certif. Checklist