Tcl/Tk was created by John Ousterhout, then a professor at the University of California at Berkeley. Later Dr. Ousterhout headed a team at Sun Microsystems that enhanced the language through version 8.0 for a few years. Recently, Dr. Ousterhout has started his own firm, Scriptics, which is building development tools. Tcl/Tk itself will remain freely available for use on multiple platforms. The development tools will be sold.

To obtain Tcl/Tk, check out the Scriptics Web site. You should be able to find source versions that will compile on several platforms and compiled versions for the MacIntosh and for Windows platforms. The compilation process is not difficult.

There is a user group on the Internet named "comp.lang.tcl." If you have difficulty installing Tcl/Tk, you may find help there. I did. One advantage of an open system is that the accessibility of the source code helps to train a larger number of knowledgeable people than you are likely to find when the source code is unavailable.

Some other Web sites with information about Tcl/Tk are maintained by Hobbs, Laird, SCO, The Tcl/Tk Consortium, Virden, and Zimmer.