31) What is WebWare? DCE Web? WebMail? Ariadne? OreO? Group Server?

[Last modified: June 95]

A.  Kristen Knotts <kjk@osf.org> posted the following message about the OSF
Research Institute's WebWare on 25 May 1995. However, the URL mentioned in the
message should be either:

        http://www.osf.org/www/ - Interoperability Program (WWW), or
        http://www.osf.org/RI/  - Research Institute

Kristen wrote:

  To: OSF.Service.Subscribers:;@osf.org
  Subject: OSF Announces Web Software -- FREE for Non-Commercial Use
  Date: Thu, 25 May 1995 16:04:44 -0400
  From: Kristen Knotts <kjk@osf.org>

  To:   OSF Service Subscribers

  From: The Open Software Foundation

          OSF Research Institute Announces
        WebWare Advanced Technology Program
      Web Software FREE for Non-Commercial Use

The Open Software Foundation Research Institute announced on April 26, 1995 a
new licensing model that provides free software under its WebWare Advanced
Technology Program for research, evaluation and internal use.

"The University of Illinois pioneered an Internet-based licensing paradigm
that makes innovative software available free of charge for research,
evaluation and internal use, via anonymous ftp (file transfer protocol)," said
Dr. Ira Goldstein, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist of OSF.  "This
paradigm has contributed to the extremely rapid dissemination of technology on
the World-Wide Web (WWW), with the Research Institute adopting this approach
for its contributions to Web technology."

Currently, the following technologies are available:

* DCE Web -- Based on the OSF DCE technology, this research prototype uses the
WWW interface to provide companies, departments and other organizations with
secure, efficient distribution of documents.  It permits authentication of all
requests, encryption of transmitted data, and control over access to documents
based on the individual and group identities of the requester.  The DCE Web
also offers an efficient name service to facilitate the location of documents
in a dynamic environment.  An OSF DCE license is needed to access this
technology.

* WebMail -- Research prototype that provides electronic mail functionality
from within the Web environment for seamless integration with other Web
documents.  Functionality includes: retrieve, delete, reply, compose, forward,
save, index by subject, sender and date as well as write-access.

* Ariadne -- Research prototype that provides a simple- to- modify browser for
the WWW.  It offers two extensions: a "back channel" that allows remote
control through TCP from anywhere on the Internet; and a graphical history
tree that shows the documents which have been viewed during the current
session.

* OreO -- Research prototype that makes it easier to build specific agents for
transactions with the WWW, allowing them to be used in a pipeline anywhere
between a traditional Web client (or browser like Ariadne or commercial
browsers such as NetScape or Mosaic) and a real server.

* Group Server -- Research prototype that supports cooperative authoring
activities.  Based primarily on the use of CGI scripts for exiting Web servers
(HTTP daemons), it builds on top of the existing authentication protocols to
provide access controls appropriate for a group authoring environment.

Software code for the Research Institute's WebWare technologies is available
for research, evaluation and internal use.  The code can be acquired by
accessing the RI web, URL http://riwww.osf.org/.  Redistribution rights for
each technology require a Commercial License which can be obtained from OSF.

Future technology advances to enhance personal, group and enterprise-wide use
of the Web are under development.