xerox 19770615 June Status Report For Common Software free download

File name 19770615_June_Status_Report_For_Common_Software.pdf

XEROX Information Products Group Systems Development Division June 15, 1977 To: Wendell Shultz Copies to: D. Liddle, R. Rider, R. Metcalfe, C. Simonyi, S. Wallace, D. Stottlemyre, . B. Lynch, J. Szelong, P. Heinrich, L. Bergsteinsson, E. Harslem, D. DeSantis, J. Wick, J. Weaver From: Charles Irby Subject: June Status Report for Common Software Filed on: '( I rby >ProgressJ un Management Review Committee Demo The unexpected arrival of the IBM system 6 by 1 July caused a slight replan of the demo to include the IBM system in addidion to Wang and Alto. The Earliest date for the demo has been established as 21 July. A Wang unit was delivered to EI Segundo this week and a second unit will be delivered to Palo Alto (hopefully) before 1 July. We have selected two PARC secretaries to operate the Wang and Alto equipment, each secretary acting as a backup for the other. We have selected two EI Segundo secretaries to operate the IBM system, one acting as backup to the other. The demo will be held in El Segundo. Several proposals were generated regarding the form and content of the demo and detailing the equipment and materials that should be on hand. Visit of Marnie Oxford and Janet Kleinmeyer from OSD Marnie and Janet spent two days in Palo Alto discussing Janus and Troy features, training possibilities and needs, and seeing demonstrations of Alto-based prototype systems. This seemed to be their first exposure to many things that the Alto can do. I think the demos helped them understand where we are coming from and how the Janus system can bring some new ideas to the marketplace. In my opinion, it was a very successful and worthwhile interchange from all viewpoints. We got good feedback on Janus features and they got an improved perspective of what Janus can be and how it differs from Troy. Ginger Engstrom, Larry Clark, and Dick Sonderegger joined us for the Janus/Troy discussions. User Interface Specification Dave Smith, Ralph, and I are helping Eric Harslem's group write the Janus-l Functional Specification. This is accounting for a large amount of Dave's time and much of Ralph's and mine. This activity is progressing well, even though Ralph's and my participation has been limited, with a release of ,drafts of most of the major sections to SO managers on 10 June. In an internal review on 9 June, we identified over 40 areas where we thought there was improvement or simplification to be made and will attempt to incorporate these before the next release on 15 July. We also agreed to have a verbal presentation to ~narketing and planning in about the first week of July. It also seems very desirable for us to produce some additional scenarios of the type we have, circulated in the last few months showing some simple record processing using tables, some