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Go backArticlesHP’s NewWave offers a more natural way of working with documents

Reprinted from PC Magazine, October 17, 1989, pp. 33-35.

When a graph that has been moved into a NewWave Write document is selected, the application that created the graph appears. You can then change the graph with the graph program, and the graph in the NewWave Write document will change accordingly.
This image can be zoomedWhen a graph that has been moved into a NewWave Write document is selected, the application that created the graph appears. You can then change the graph with the graph program, and the graph in the NewWave Write document will change accordingly.
Even if Hewlett-Packard were never to sell a single copy of its HP NewWave Environment, the product is still destined to have a profound influence on the evolution of the graphical user interface. What NewWave does is difficult to understand at first because it is very different from the way in which we currently use our PCs. NewWave requires a paradigm shift, a change in our perceptions of the relationship between applications and documents.

NewWave runs under Microsoft Windows. The $195 program doesn’t subtract from anything you can do under Windows, but instead extends the environment in various ways for both the user and the program developer.

After installing NewWave and running the batch file that starts it up, you are greeted by the NewWave Office, which displays a collection of icons.

Most of these icons will be document files. The icon itself represents the application that created the document; the text underneath the icon is the name of the document. By clicking one of these icons with a mouse, you invoke the application. The application, in turn, loads the document, which is then ready for use.

The program comes with a sample NewWave application – a WYSIWYG word processor called NewWave Write. This is a more sophisticated word processor than Windows Write, which is included with Microsoft Windows. It offers, for example, a spelling checker and a page preview mode.

Just as Windows is best suited to running applications written to the Windows API (application program interface), NewWave is best suited to running applications written to the NewWave API. Programs written for NewWave are basically Windows applications that have been modified to take advantage of special NewWave features. Over the next 3 to 9 months, several NewWave applications are expected to be released, including versions of Microsoft Excel, Micrografx’s Graph Plus, and Samna’s Ami.

The primary user interface of the HP NewWave Environment is NewWave Office, shown here with one of its dialog boxes.
This image can be zoomedThe primary user interface of the HP NewWave Environment is NewWave Office, shown here with one of its dialog boxes.
What can you do in NewWave that’s so special? The following examples, based on NewWave programs created for demonstration purposes, will give you an idea of what you’ll be able to expect from NewWave-aware applications.

Suppose that you begin by creating a word processing document in Ami and then decide to include a small spreadsheet from Excel. Using the clipboard, you copy the spreadsheet from Excel into the Ami document. You then decide to include a bar graph from Graph Plus, so again you use the clipboard to transfer it into the document. This is basic stuff that you can do in Windows today.

But here’s the NewWave difference: While still in Ami, you can select the spreadsheet that you’ve moved into the document and Excel will spring into life, containing the spreadsheet. You can then make changes to numbers or formulas or formatting, and the spreadsheet that you’ve moved into the Ami document will change also. You then select the bar graph and the Graph Plus window appears. You can change the bar graph to a line graph and the graph in the Ami document changes also.

Of course, this seems a very natural way to work with documents, yet it is very unlike anything we can do with PC applications today. Normally, after a spreadsheet or graph is moved into a word processing document, it loses all connection with the application that created it. In NewWave, the spreadsheet and graph that are moved into the document are still linked to the original applications. This is how NewWave can invoke the application when you select the spreadsheet or graph in the document.

You can print a document simply by using the mouse to drag the document icon to the printer icon in the NewWave Office. As NewWave prints the document, all three applications are transparently invoked to carry out their specialized tasks; Ami is responsible for printing the text part, Excel for the spreadsheet part, and Graph Plus for the graph part.

Because NewWave runs under Windows, you can use all of Windows’ facilities with NewWave, as shown by the MS-DOS Executive and the NewWave Office.
This image can be zoomedBecause NewWave runs under Windows, you can use all of Windows’ facilities with NewWave, as shown by the MS-DOS Executive and the NewWave Office.
In short, NewWave extends object-oriented concepts into the relationship between applications and their documents. The document becomes an object; the applications (using object-oriented terminology) are the “methods” that allow you to manipulate various parts of this object. The benefits to the user are obvious: You can focus your attention on the documents rather than on the applications that create them. Each NewWave application that contributes to a document is seamlessly invoked to handle what it does best.

It is also possible to configure NewWave so that existing DOS or Windows applications will show up as icons in the NewWave Office. Hewlett-Packard calls this process “encapsulation.” This allows users to take advantage of some NewWave facilities in using these programs. Encapsulation requires the NewWave Support Pack, available for $145. Corporations that choose to use NewWave only need one Support Pack for the local PC coordinator, who would assist NewWave users in configuring their systems.

NewWave also includes some other goodies that applications can use, such as a built-in on-line help system, a computer-based training system, and (although limited in the initial release) a task-automation facility. Full-blown NewWave application programming requires the $895 NewWave Developer Kit, in addition to the Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit and a C compiler.

It is difficult to predict how commercially successful NewWave will be. A corporation that makes a commitment to using NewWave must also make a commitment to Microsoft Windows; software developers who write NewWave applications will be those who also write Windows applications. It could very well be that the next couple of years will see more attention focused on converting Windows users and programs to the OS/2 Presentation Manager rather than to NewWave. Hewlett-Packard expects to adapt NewWave for the Presentation Manager, but it's not yet certain when this will be ready.

Still, HP NewWave Environment offers such an obvious enhancement to the graphical user interface that it simply cannot be ignored. NewWave is going to be a highly influential product in guiding the future course of software.

by Charles Petzold

Fact file

HP NewWave Environment
Hewlett-Packard Co., Personal Software Division, 3410 Central Expwy,, Santa Clara, CA 95051; (800) 752-0900.
List Price: $195
Requires: 4MB EMS 4.0 expanded memory, hard disk, Microsoft Windows/286
In Short: By bringing object-oriented concepts to applications and to the documents they create, the HP NewWave Environment demonstrates the next major advancement in graphical user interfaces,

Page added on 20th December 2004.

Copyright © 2002-2006 Marcin Wichary, unless stated otherwise.