However, this makes software maintenance a problem from that point on. Willows Software offers the Twin XPDK, a cross-platform developers kit with libraries, header files, and the like, to support the Windows API on Unix platforms. Bristol Technology takes a similar approach. Mainsoft's MainWin Cross-Development Kit is in the same vein as the Willows and Bristol products. It lets you compile Windows applications on Unix platforms, and the resulting Unix application can run with eithe r the original Windows look and feel or the Motif look and feel.
End users can choose the look at run time.
These development tools have the advantage of leaving you with a single set of source code to compile for each target platform. One promising development is Open Software Associates' announcement of OpenWeb, an enhancement to OpenUI due this quarter. They support a wide variety of DBMSes on both Windows and Unix. Stumbling Blocks Even the best tools don't automatically create super applications. That's because a custom application that is critical enough for you to deploy on multiple platforms will likely require significant interaction with a variety of windowing systems, databases, or other servers.