OPEN LOOK / Motif Re: Why OpenWindows instead of Motif ?

[Lee Sailer]

I don't know "why?" but I learned some new stuff today that might help
clarify the discussion.  One way to think about GUI's built on X, which
both Open Look (OL) and Motif (M) are, is to keep three concepts distinct.

There is a "client," which is X-lingo for the application program such
as a spreadsheet, word processor, or any other that needs to display on
a terminal and interact with a user.

Then, there is a "server" which controls the terminal screen, the mouse and
keyboard, and so on.

Then, there is a "window manager."  The window manager is a special
client that is responsible for things like putting a border around the
window, processing the front/back gadgets, resizing, moving windows,
and so on.  There is also a "toolkit" that will allow an application
program to create buttons, scrol text, and so on.  The window manager
looks the way it does in part because of the toolkit it uses, and a
client may adhere to a window manager's look and feel by using the same
toolkit.

This gets interesting.  You can change the window manager on the fly.  The
look and feel of your windows changes, but the contents of the windows
remain the same.

Open Look is a window manager and some toolkits.  Motif is a window
manager and some toolkits.  If both are available on your *network* then
you can use either of them whenever you like.

                                             lee