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From: jalden@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Joshua M. Alden)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: What I'd like to see in the AppleShare of the 90's
Keywords: accounting, communications
Message-ID: <18541@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>
Date: 16 Jan 90 22:54:38 GMT
References: <25184@brunix.UUCP> <25862@cup.portal.com> <25447@brunix.UUCP> <25942@cup.portal.com> <1990Jan15.173834.27744@phri.nyu.edu> <581@gargoyle.uchicago.edu> <19068@netnews.upenn.edu>
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Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
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In article <19068@netnews.upenn.edu> jeff@eniac.seas.upenn.edu.UUCP (Jeffrey M White) writes:
>In article <581@gargoyle.uchicago.edu> dawyd@gargoyle.uchicago.edu.UUCP (David Walton) writes:
>>AppleShare could really use better facilities for keeping track of and
>>communicating with users.  To wit:
>>
>>* The ability to send messages to any or all users at any time,
>>  instead of only when the server is about to shut down.
>
>  You can use the Broadcast rdev to do this.  It allows you to send a message
>to one or all users on a network.  It's public domain/shareware.
>
>						Jeff White
>						University of Pennsylvania
>						jeff@eniac.seas.upenn.edu

Hm...

    One problem that I see with using Broadcast in this capacity is that
in order to receive the messages, each user must have it in the System
Folder.

    Broadcast has a bad reputation among those of us who work at User
Services here at Dartmouth.  A Broadcast message that pops up at a bad
time can produce crashes that are much worse than what I've seen from a
networking loss.  Also, if alot of people start using it (like our
freshmen this year), the net slows measurably.

    My own personal gripe about Broadcast is that it is highly
invasive.  It pops up a dialog that must be acknowledged and dealt with
before anything else can happen.  Often to the detriment of whatever
you're doing at the time, like saving a document, or running some sort
of interactive program that requires quick responses (like games and
some communications packages).

    So, in summary, I wouldn't recommend Broadcast for much of anything,
let alone as an aid to network administration.

-Josh.


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