What is Motif?

The Motif user interface was developed by the Open Software Foundation whose members included IBM, Hewlett-Packard, the Digital Equipment Corporation, and (initially) the MicroSoft Corporation. Motif uses the X Windows System as its communication protocol between clients and servers.

The Motif standard incorporates both a presentation (look and feel) standard and a standardized Application Programming Interface (API). Motif offers the following advantages over some competing standards:

Is a stable standard with broad-based support from many vendors (is not controlled by a single company)
Always had solid support (Sun initially supported something else called NeWS and then OpenLook).
Looks more like Microsoft Windows (since MS Windows is based upon the Motif presentation standard, but does not conform to the Application Programming Interface).
Has a three-dimensional look.
Can have keyboard keys assigned to specific functions.
Has a single set of APIs (which was an advantage while it competed with OpenLook)

Today, Motif is an industry standard graphical user interface, (as defined by the IEEE 1295 specification), and is implemented on more than 200 hardware and software platforms. It provides application developers, end users, and system vendors with the industry's most widely used environment for standardizing application presentation on a wide range of platforms. Motif is the leading user interface for the UNIX operating system.

The Motif graphical user interface (GUI) toolkit facilitates the development of applications for heterogeneous, networked computing environments. By providing application portability across a variety of platforms, the Motif environment helps protect valuable investments in software and user training.

Motif is also the fundamental graphical user interface toolkit for the Common Desktop Environment (CDE).

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What is Motif?

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