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Q1: What is InterViews?

A1: InterViews is a system for building and using interactive software.
    Written in C++, InterViews provides a set of C++ class libraries
    with high-level abstractions for implementing interactive programs.
    InterViews includes specific support for resolution-independent
    graphics, sophisticated document formatting, and graphical connectivity.
    InterViews currently runs on top of the X window system.

    Here is a summary of key InterViews features:

	Native C++
	Glyphs - lightweight, shareable objects
	Sophisticated layout objects
	Resolution-independent graphics, printing, overlays
	Incremental update, double-buffering
	Graphical editing framework
	Apps: drawing editor, WYSIWYG document editor, interface builder

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Q2: What is Unidraw?

A2: Unidraw is a graphical editing framework that is part of InterViews.
    The Unidraw class library includes support for 2D structured graphics,
    graphical connectivity management, dataflow among components,
    unlimited levels of undo/redo, direct manipulation primitives,
    multiple views, and traversals for external representations.

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Q3: What is the latest release of InterViews?

A3: We are currently distributing version 3.1.  The 3.2 release
    will probably occur in the middle of '93.

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Q4: How does one obtain the InterViews distribution?

A4: The distribution is available via anonymous ftp from
    interviews.stanford.edu (IP address 36.22.0.175).
    Use login "ftp" and any password.  Make sure to use
    type "binary" and get "pub/3.1.tar.Z".  This is a
    single compressed tar file with the source and documentation.
    There is a README file in the top directory that explains
    how to build and install it.

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Q5: How much does InterViews cost?

A5: There is no fee or license.  InterViews is distributed in the
    same manner as the MIT X Consortium distributes X.  The software
    is copyrighted, but you are given unrestricted rights in what you
    can do with it (copy, modify, redistribute, sell, etc.).

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Q6: What is the state of the documentation on InterViews?

A6: The current documentation consists of a reference manual for
    the core classes, a tutorial and manual pages for Unidraw,
    a user manual for the interface builder, and manual pages
    for the other applications.

    We also have been giving tutorials regularly at the MIT X Conference
    (in January in Boston) and Xhibition (in June in San Jose).  The
    tutorial notes are available via anonymous ftp undef pub/papers.

    Unidraw users will also find John Vlissides' thesis a valuable addition.
    The title is "Generalized Graphical Object Editing" and it is
    available as a Stanford CSL Tech. Report No. CSL-TR-90-427.
    To obtain a copy, contact Naomi Schulman, schulman@sierra.stanford.edu.

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Q7: Does InterViews support Motif or OpenLook?

A7: The current distribution is not fully compliant with any standard GUI.
    There will be a set of components that can support either
    Motif or OpenLook in the future, but at this time we cannot
    estimate exactly when or how this will be available (it might be,
    for example, part of a commercial version of InterViews).

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Q8: What platforms does InterViews run on?  Unix?  Mac?  Windows?

A8: Right now, InterViews runs on any X Unix platform.  This includes
    Silicon Graphics, DEC, HP, Sun, and IBM workstations.  I'm not aware
    of any Unix platforms that InterViews does not run on.

    Others have investigated porting InterViews to non-X environments.
    A group in Apple has done a Mac port, but this is not available.
    A group at Texas Instruments has done a OS/2-PM port, for more
    information contact Dan Stenger, stenger@csc.ti.com.

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Q9: How portable is InterViews to other platforms?

A9: There are two aspects to porting InterViews: the C++ environment and
    the target window/operating system.  The major headache across
    C++ environments is system header files and ANSI/POSIX prototypes.
    The window system dependent is isolated in a separate directory
    in the InterViews source.

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Q10: How is InterViews supported?

A10: InterViews is a research project with participation from both
     Stanford and Silicon Graphics.  We (the researchers) fix bugs,
     generate new releases, write documentation, give tutorials, and
     try to answer questions as best as we can.  Quest Systems,
     a small company in Santa Clara, now offers support for InterViews
     (their product is called ObjectViews).  HP has announced
     a product based on InterViews called InterViews Plus.

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Q11: What companies are using InterViews in commercial products?

A11: We don't keep track of all the uses, but here are some of them:

	Fujitsu America (telecommunications)
	NASA/Century Computing (TAE+ interactive design tools)
	ProCASE (CASE tools)
	Teknekron Communication Systems (telecommunications)
	Canon Information Systems Research Australia
	Cisco Systems (network management)

     Many other companies are using InterViews for prototyping,
     advanced development, and research projects.

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Q12: Is Silicon Graphics going to offer InterViews as a product?

A12: There is no commitment to a product at this time.  Silicon Graphics
     is continuing to support InterViews as a research project and
     as a working project within the MIT X Consortium.  Silicon Graphics
     has a strong interest in a next generation, C++ toolkit that
     is a widely-available standard.  There are no plans to change
     the policy of making InterViews freely available like X
     (unrestricted rights).

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Q13: Is there an InterViews mailing list?

A13: Yes, though we now have a netnews group "comp.windows.interviews"
     that we prefer people to use.  The mailing list is dual-ported
     with the newsgroup; the alias is "interviews@interviews.stanford.edu".
     An archive of messages is periodically made available via ftp
     in pub/mailing.Z.

     Please send mailing list drop/add requests to interviews-requests.
     Please send bug reports to interviews-bugs.

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Q14: What are the future plans for InterViews?

A14: Briefly, the next technical push is to make high-level
     document components so that the functionality of doc (the document editor)
     is available to all applications.  We also want to apply
     the composition ideas we have used for geometry to the time
     domain, making it easy to mix audio, video, and animation objects.
     Strategically, we will continue to lead the X Consortium
     Fresco (formerly known as XC++) working group to try
     to define a standard C++ binding for X.

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Q15: Will new versions of InterViews be compatible with old ones?

A15: Our philosophy is not to break something unless we have to.
     We will try to keep new versions compatible with old ones.
     The only exceptions occur when preserving compatibility
     makes the systems much more complicated and likely to be more buggy.
     In the past, the only time this happened was going from 2.6 to 3.0
     where certain features (such as TimerEvents) were better removed.

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Q16: What is the schedule for future InterViews releases?

A16: The schedule and feature list for 3.2 has not yet been determined.
     We will make more information available as it becomes firmer.

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Q17: Does InterViews have an interface builder?

A17: Yes, it is called ibuild.  Because of the concurrent development
     of ibuild and glyphs in 3.0, ibuild currently only generates code
     that uses interactors (not glyphs).  Generation of glyph code
     will be added in the future.

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Q18: How much disk space does InterViews need?

A18: The uncompressed source is about 8Mb.  The installed binaries
     are about 18Mb on a MIPS system without shared libraries.
     Building it probably takes about 30Mb (not counting the install area).

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Q19: How long does it take to build InterViews?

A19: This depends on the platform, of course, but on an Iris Indigo
     (33 MHz MIPS R3000) it takes about 45 minutes for a complete build and
     install from scratch.

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Q20: Does InterViews work with g++?

A20: For details about how to use g++ with InterViews, please see Mike
     Stump's patch kit in pub/contrib/g++ on interviews.stanford.edu.
     For further information please contact Mike Stump, mrs@cygnus.com.
