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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
2
paragraph assembly and some "form" letter creation and processing against a list of
addresses and other variable information.
Bob Ayers has enhanced his prototype system somewhat to explore other features of
graphics and filing. Graphics now exists inside graphic "frames" (rectangular areas), which
can be adjusted in size and location. The text, which now includes multiple fonts and
boldface, "runs around" the frame. Simple rotations and scaling are also available. The
notion of "pinning" control points is also implemented.
Data Management
A design review of the file system interface and design was conducted, and a memo
summarizing the results was distributed. The design team is now considering issues that
were raised and updating the appropriate sections of the Pilot Functional Spec. Work is
also begining on the fQrmaLand-interface--to_higlt~vel file directories.
Graphics and Text Editing in Diamond
Jack Newlin is making reasonable progress in implement the graphics facilities of
Diamond. Jack and Bob Ayers are exploring some additional graphics ideas in Bob's
prototype system,. as mentioned above. Bob and Dave Smith are to begin learning the
Diamond software so that they can implement an editor interface to the Diamond
underpinnings. A draft specification of these facilities has been produced and was part of
the Janus-l Funtional Spec draft just distributed. However, since we expect to do
considerable exploration in this area, we must implement this interface with a fairly general
substructure. The detailed design and coding has not begun because of other commitments
on Bob's and Dave's time.
Task Force Demos
I gave a demo of Alto-based programs to the OIS Task Force at Dave Liddle's request. The
demo included Bravo, Markup, Draw, and Ayers' Desktop. My impression was that it went
very well in that the Task Force members were very impressed by the capabilities of the
Alto, its bitmap display, and SLOT printers. The Task Force has set up a Blue Ribbon
Panel of OSD and Daconics senior sales people to offer an independent assesement of our
work as appropriate to the customer environments with which they are familiar. Therefore,
I gave an additional demo to them this week. My impression, again,