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From: jmunkki@kampi.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Sound (Also file system)
Message-ID: <23301@santra.UUCP>
Date: 29 Jun 89 11:17:14 GMT
References: <23252@santra.UUCP> <7788@hoptoad.uucp>
Sender: news@santra.UUCP
Reply-To: jmunkki@kampi.hut.fi (Juri Munkki)
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology, Finland
Lines: 63

In article <7788@hoptoad.uucp> tim@hoptoad.UUCP (Tim Maroney) writes:
>So what's wrong with the Sound Manager?

Page 32 of the new sound manager chapter:
	"There can only be a single monophonic channel; stereo is not
	 supported."

I think there should be a way of playing multiple stereo channels.
Using the old technote 19 and the sound driver, it was easy to
mix two monophonic channels into one monophonic channel.

>Granted, it's irritating that
>Apple sometimes redefines the way parts of the OS work, but you have to
>understand that the early Mac OS was a bit of a rush job that wasn't
>expected to last this long.

I think the original Mac OS was much cleaner than the current hack.

>Replacing particularly messy bits like
>the Sound Driver and Print Manager is necessary to prolonging the
>useful life of the OS.

Plastic surgery nevers prolongs the file of the patient... It just
makes the patient look better. They should scrap everything they
have and start fresh. This is something that Apple Computer will
not do. System 7.0 retains too much compatibility with old systems.

>What specifically is the problem with the Sound Manager?  How would
>you improve it?

Better use of the ASC. Stereo sound simulating multiple monophonic sources
placed in space.

>>Another thing:if the new and rewritten system 7.0 is any larger than the
>>		current system 6.0, I think it is flawed. It is possible to
>>		make the system smaller by leaving out kludges. The first
>>		thing that comes to mind is MFS support.
>
>Eh?  The file system has been in the ROM since the Mac Plus days.

They should scrap everything in the current ROMs. I think they will
rewrite most of the stuff. I'm sure Finder code will be reduced by
removing support of MFS disks. They could just put up a dialog asking
to run Apple File Exchange to move the files from the MFS disk.

>>I wonder what company will be the new innovator when Apple is gone.
>
>Do you really think a company with a quarter of a billion dollars cash
>in the bank is just going to go away because you have some unspecified
>complaints with the Sound Manager?

No. Do you? :-) Apple is not going away. They aren't going away any
more than IBM is going away. I just think that their edge will wear
out in the next few years. The Macintosh OS is not immortal. Rewriting
it while maintaining compatibility with older systems reminds me of
VM/SP.

The amount of new hacks & kludges tells me that something is very wrong.

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|     Juri Munkki jmunkki@hut.fi  jmunkki@fingate.bitnet        I Want   Ne   |
|     Helsinki University of Technology Computing Centre        My Own   XT   |
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