Definition: AppWare

An earlier client/server development system from Novell that supported Windows and Mac clients. It included Novell's Visual AppBuilder programming tool, which was used to create applications by linking pre-built Application Loadable Modules (ALMs) together. ALMs communicated with each other over a "software bus" known as the AppWare Bus.

Foundation libraries for Windows, Mac, OS/2, NT, Solaris, HP and UnixWare were originally created to provide cross-platform portability. However, in late 1994, Novell dropped the libraries, while continuing with Visual AppBuilder for Windows and Mac. Some of AppWare's Visual AppBuilder features and functionality were carried forward in Novell's exteNd product suite.