Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uupsi!sunic!dkuug!iesd!iesd.auc.dk!fischer From: fischer@iesd.auc.dk (Lars P. Fischer) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: Mac OS 7.0 to use point-and-click Message-ID: Date: 6 Jun 90 21:56:01 GMT References: <5635@helios.TAMU.EDU> Sender: news@iesd.auc.dk (UseNet News) Organization: Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Aalborg Lines: 29 In-reply-to: chari@math.utexas.edu's message of 6 Jun 90 15:57:29 GMT In article chari@math.utexas.edu (Christopher M. Whatley) writes: >daugher@cs.tamu.edu (Dr. Walter C. Daugherity) writes: >>Now Apple has announced that version 7.0 of the Mac operating system, due >>out later this year, will switch to point-and-click to focus. > >That's how Macs have always been. The other way is stupid. Who needs >to type in a window that you can't see? What do you mean by "type in a window that you can't see"? The issue is how to decide which window takes the input when you can see more than one window at the same time. There are several options 1) the "front" window 2) the window the mouse cursor points to 3) the window last clicked in. The Mac combines 1) and 3) (the window last clicked at is always at the front (well, almost). Many systems does not have a notion of "front" or "active" window, and therefore has the choice of 2) and 3) only. None of those are "stupid", just different. Note that with 3), in *can* at times point to windows I can't see. The notion of a "front" window is really a left-over from the single-tasking nature of the Mac. /Lars -- Lars Fischer, fischer@iesd.auc.dk | NeXT: A disaster looking for a place CS Dept., Univ. of Aalborg, DENMARK. | to happen -- Bill Joy