Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!iuvax!bsu-cs!mithomas
From: mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: What I'd like to see in the AppleShare of the 90's
Message-ID: <10578@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
Date: 15 Jan 90 05:35:27 GMT
References: <25184@brunix.UUCP> <25862@cup.portal.com> <1990Jan13.151947.15612@phri.nyu.edu> <25941@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 75

Stephan Somogyi writes:
> The problem is: what are you going to do with novice users? There are
> going to be plenty of people who aren't going to have the foggiest
> idea what to do with that message."The server is disconnected" might
> not mean much to some people, but it will at least let them continue
> using their Mac.

I think you miss the point here.  If the application that you are using
is on the server, it will crash the next time it tries to do a LoadSeg.
Not many people would realize that this "The server is disconnected"
message means that their machine will soon crash.

Maybe you haven't experienced this.  (I have.  In fact, someone pulled
the LocalTalk connector out of the back of one of our file servers once
and all 15 of the machines that were in use crashed within 30 seconds.
Try explaining that to users.)
 
> The next time they save their doc, their app should give them a Save
> As dialog (since the original volume is now gone) and let them save to
> a local volume.

This is only true if you only use the file server for data files.  Most
places use file servers for storage of common, shared applications
(especially in the educational environment that is prevalent around here).

If you are using an application that resides (or resided) on the file server,
and if this save requires the OS to load another segment (which is more than
likely in this day of 500-1000K programs), you will see an instant system
error.
 
> Sure, this still isn't perfect, but IMHO much better for the
> non-techie user than stopping them in their tracks if something
> outside of their Mac has gone awry.

If something outside of their Mac has gone awry, something that could have
such a serious affect on their work, I would hope that they would stop in
their tracks to find out what that dialog box meant.

Maybe a new dialog would only be necessary if the AppleShare client detects
that the connection went down while an application that resides on the
server was running.  The ability to attempt to reconnect is crucial if the
user is to have any hope of getting those two hours of work (or whatever)
onto some disk without the machine crashing.
 
> Stephan Somogyi
> NetWorkShop Manager
> MacUser

Network shop, huh?  Well, try this out then.  Put an application (something
like PageMaker) on an AppleShare file server.  Run this application on a
workstation.  Pull the AppleTalk cable out of the back of your workstation.
Keep using your application (after you acknowledge the message about the
disconnection) and just see how long you do anything.

Ideally, I believe that you should see a dialog like this:

     Your file server connection has been lost.

     Attempt to Reconnect              OK

Then if the user chooses to attempt to regain a connection, present another
dialog:

     Trying to reestablish connection...

                                 Give Up

Get the picture?

-Michael

-- 
Michael Niehaus        UUCP: <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!mithomas
Apple Student Rep      ARPA:  mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu
Ball State University  AppleLink: ST0374 (from UUCP: st0374@applelink.apple.com)