“Application Programming Interface for Windows”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Application Programming Interface for Windows (APIW) Standard is a specification of the Microsoft Windows 3.1 API drafted by Willows Software. It is the successor to previously proposed Public Windows Interface standard. It was created in an attempt to establish a vendor-neutral, platform-independent, open standard of the 16-bit Windows API not controlled by Microsoft.^[1]

History

{{anchor|PWI}}Solutions for heterogeneous environments

By the end of 1990, Windows 3.0 was the top-selling software. The various graphical Windows applications had already started to reduce training time and enhance productivity on personal computers. At the same time, various Unix and Unix-based operating systems dominated technical workstations and departmental servers. The idea of a consistent application environment across heterogeneous environments was compelling to both enterprise customers and software developers.

On May 5, 1993, Sun Microsystems announced Windows Application Binary Interface (WABI), a product to run Windows software on Unix, and the Public Windows Interface (PWI) initiative, an effort to standardize a subset of the popular 16-bit Windows APIs.^[2] They proposed PWI to various companies and organizations including X/Open, IEEE and Unix International.^[3] The previous day, Microsoft had announced SoftPC, a Windows to Unix product created by Insignia Solutions as part of a program where Microsoft licensed their Windows source code to select third parties, which in the following year became known as Windows Interface Source Environment (WISE). Later that month, Microsoft also announced Windows NT, a version of Windows designed to run on workstations and servers.^[4]

ECMA gets involved

In February 1994, the PWI Specification Committee sent a draft specification to X/Open—who rejected it in March, after being threatened by Microsoft's assertion of intellectual property rights (IPR) over the Windows APIs^[5]—and the European Computer Manufacturers' Association (ECMA). In September, now part of an ECMA delegation, they made an informational presentation about the project at the ISO SC22 plenary meeting in The Hague, Netherlands.^[6] Their goal was to make it an ISO standard in order to force Microsoft to comply with it (in Windows) or risk not being able sell to European or Asian governments who can only buy ISO standards-compliant products.^[7]

ISO delays the standard

Again, Microsoft claimed intellectual property over Windows APIs and ISO put the standard on hold pending proof of their claims. The delay lasted until November 1997, when, hearing no response from Microsoft, ISO announced they were pushing through with the standard.^[11] However, there is no record of it ever being approved as an ISO standard.

See also

References

1. ^{{cite web| url = http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-234.htm| title = Standard ECMA-234|date=December 1995| publisher = Ecma International| format = PDF}}
2. ^{{cite web| url = https://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.linux/msg/0a7c3867abdb4a76| title = SunFLASH Vol 53: Sun Introduces Wabi - Allows MS-Windows Apps To Run Under UNIX|date=May 1993| publisher = SunFlash (Newsletter)}}
3. ^{{cite journal| author = Cheryl Gerber| date = May 10, 1993| title = Sun unveils Windows for RISC plans| journal = InfoWorld| page = 8| publisher = InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.}}
4. ^{{cite journal| author = Bob Metcalfe| date = June 7, 1993| title = Is OS cross-dressing too good to be true?| journal = InfoWorld| page = 52| publisher = InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.}}
5. ^{{cite web| title = X/OPEN NOT TO TAKE MANAGEMENT OF THE PUBLIC WINDOWS INITIATIVE| date = March 30, 1994| publisher = Computer Business Review}}
6. ^¹{{cite journal| author = Rob Farnum|date=June 1996| title = Applications Programming Interface for Windows: A Timely Standard| journal = StandardView| volume = 4| number = 2| pages = 100–102}}
7. ^{{cite journal| author = Martin LanMonica| date = December 18, 1995| title = Group back Windows spec| journal = InfoWorld| page = 16| publisher = InfoWorld Media Group, Inc.}}
8. ^{{cite web| title = CORSAIR EFFORT TO BECOME INTERNET OPERATING SYSTEM| date = March 17, 1995| publisher = Computer Business Review}}
9. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.computerwoche.de/heftarchiv/1995/26/1115269/ |title=Corsair Desktop mit Linux-Kern |trans-title=Corsair Desktop Linux kernel |date=June 30, 1995 |publisher=Computerwoche |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323153822/http://www.computerwoche.de/heftarchiv/1995/26/1115269/ |archivedate=March 23, 2012 }}
10. ^{{cite web| title = HUNTER'S PERSONAL COMPUTER APPLICATIONS UNDER UNIX TECHNOLOGY RE-EMERGES AT MULTIPORT| date = July 8, 1993| publisher = Computer Business Review}}
11. ^{{cite journal| author = Carl Cargill|date=December 1997| title = Section 2. Sun and Standardization Wars| journal = StandardView| volume = 5| number = 4| pages = 133–135}}