Early during the design of a suitable Application Evironment (AE) for the x86 Protected Mode RTOS µPMOS, standardized OS independent programming interfaces already turned out to be of great advantage for high-level embedded application development. Additionally, the requirement for optimized user interfaces the AE had to offer emphasized the necessity of well defined universal interfaces for both, graphics and text modes. This resulted in the definition of the ObjectWorkplace Embedded Desktop and Application Environment standard.

ObjectWorkplace defines both, programming and user interfaces in an OS independent, object oriented manner. Implementations of the standard provide a secure and versatile desktop centric user interface for graphics and text modes. Dynamic data exchange and manipulation functions rely on simple transaction protocols that allow for efficient object distribution even across networks.

The standard also defines the addition of new classes to the AE in order to realize adaptations of the system to applications of almost any grade of complexity. The optional integration of a µREXX based programming environment eases class development to its maximum and makes ObjectWorkplace implementations the only desktop environments that come with their own development environment included.

The precise definition of standardized application environments like ObjectWorkplace enables software implementers and maintainers to take their time about their applications, not the underlying platform, that is, to focus on the major requirement of the embedded world: Control!