tkWorld Manifesto In this document, Unix refers to all the different vendor versions, including Linux, NetBSD, and FreeBSD, which are known as the Unix Operating System. The success of Unix depends heavily, now more than ever, on the progress of its User Interface. The various Unix operating systems are technically superior products, and the Window Managers available move toward a graphical look and feel, but the applications are far behind. For Unix to move into the client, of the client/server OS market, and become active in the Home PC market, the standard applications and utilities will need to provide Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs). There are several reasons the GUI has not become a part of the Unix Operating System. One reason is that Xwindows programming has never been easy. Even with the advent of the Xt, Athena, and Motif widgets, several thousand lines of code have to be written to produce a working application. As a result, most developers have contributed utilities which use Command Line Options (CLOs) to vary the behavior and output of the application, instead of using more user friendly tools like pull-down menus and toolbars. The direct result of this unfriendly interface is that only a few spend the time required to learn how to use Unix. Instead, most users opt for an operating system that gets their job done quickly, and has a more user friendly interface. If Unix is going to grow, reliance on the shell must be reduced to a minimum, while the number of GUI applications must continue to grow. The mission of tkWorld is to provide GUIs to the standard Unix utilities. All applications will have a standard look and feel, as well as provide point and click access to common command line options. Providing a common Application Interface will help beginners learn Unix, while giving advanced users easy access to the options they already know. If this coexistence between users varying levels can be achieved, tkWorld can help strengthen Unix in the OS market.