Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!sun-barr!decwrl!fernwood!asylum!langz From: langz@asylum.SF.CA.US (Lang Zerner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga Subject: Re: My AmigaDOS 1.4 wishlist Message-ID: <3661@asylum.SF.CA.US> Date: 29 Aug 89 19:25:34 GMT References: <12878@well.UUCP> <16025@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <1989Aug8.220028.13827@nc386.uucp> < <64360@linus.UUCP> <4472@amiga.UUCP> Reply-To: langz@asylum.UUCP (Lang Zerner) Organization: The Great Escape, Inc Lines: 36 In article <4472@amiga.UUCP> jimm@cloyd.UUCP (Jim Mackraz) writes: >)In article <16163@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> johnhlee@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Vince Lee) writes: >)> ....the Amiga is a great machine, [but] what most people see is the >)> incredibly cheezy-looking workbench with its C64-looking icons. >)> When they compare this with the sleek, professional-looking Mac with >)> its sharp, crisp text and icons.... > >The highest levels of Commodore management have publicly stated that the >appearance of the screen has very high priority for improvement. The latest (Sep 89) issue of Computer Shopper magazine further suggests that relief is in sight: "[New Commodore President Harry] Copperman pitched professionalism and consistency to developers, saying that CATS should provide standards for things ike user interfaces and support, icons, requesters, and spiral-bound manuals, upon which developers could imprint unique characteristics as appropriate." [p. 563, col.1] While some developers griped about this attitude of standards of appearance, I have to say I wouldn't mind if there were some kind of guiding principle to the appearance of the elements on the screen. And as a software user, I like being able to adjust my shelf to a specific height and knowing that most software will fit nicely. [An aside: MS-DOS users already know about this, since their developers use the standard 5.5"x8.5" boxed binders. Of course, there are situations where it makes more sense to use a larger format. If the Commodore publications group is like most others I know, they'll put together a four-member "family" of page standards -- large and small page size with one- or two-column format in eachh size.] -- Be seeing you... --Lang Zerner langz@asylum.sf.ca.us UUCP:bionet!asylum!langz ARPA:langz@athena.mit.edu "...and every morning we had to go and LICK the road clean with our TONGUES!"