Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!intercon!amanda@intercon.uu.net
From: amanda@intercon.uu.net (Amanda Walker)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: System 7.0
Message-ID: <1399@intercon.UUCP>
Date: 24 Aug 89 14:26:56 GMT
References: <227700026@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> <483@sunfs3.camex.uucp> <9173@thorin.cs.unc.edu> <13784@shamash.cdc.com> <490@sunfs3.camex.uucp> <8368@hoptoad.uucp> <3214@zeus.unl.edu> <1394@intercon.UUCP> <8381@hoptoad.uucp>
Sender: news@intercon.UUCP
Reply-To: amanda@intercon.uu.net (Amanda Walker)
Organization: InterCon Systems Corporation
Lines: 41

In article <8381@hoptoad.uucp>, tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) writes:
> I didn't want to hear this -- I saw your message and thought, "Oh boy,
> Amanda will have the answer, it's not as bad as I think."

Well, I'm flattered; sorry I can't be more positive...

> I guess it
> really is.  You seem to be reasonably well connected, and if you don't
> know of any Apple answer to the network file system issue here, I'm
> willing to bet that they haven't even bothered to think about it.

Well, I haven't spoken to any file system people recently, so I can't be
completely certain, but that's how it looks.  One thing, though, is that
file IDs are *not* mandatory.  For one thing, they don't work on MFS
volumes.

> David Oster had a good point about the programming implications.  You
> now must save your documents by overwriting the old file.

Actually, this isn't true.  Apple wasn't entirely asleep when they came
up with this idea :-).  There's a routine called "PBHExchangeFiles" that
exchanges the contents of two files (sort of like a mutual rename that
keeps the file ID attached to the name, not the file contents).  Grody,
but at least it's there (at least, as of the Dev. Conf. :-)).

Sigh.  This is part of my love-hate relationship with Apple.  They do great
stuff, but they are off in their own world, and they are very convinced that
"being Apple" is all they need to do.  There's only so long you can say
"I am The Great And Powerful Oz", though, before people start wondering
what's behind the curtain.  The more Macs they sell, and the bigger they
get, the more they will have to coexist with the rest of the world.  I hope
they figure this out at some point ...

Ah, well.  At least the External File System interface will be cleaned
up a whole lot.

--
Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation

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