Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!walt.cc.utexas.edu!awessels From: awessels@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: What can't it do? Loss of... Message-ID: <33891@ut-emx.UUCP> Date: 12 Jul 90 18:15:27 GMT References: <886@mdavcr.UUCP> <28778.269229da@vaxb.acs.unt.edu> <1990Jul8.220052.24143@spectrum.CMC.COM> <2977@tellab5.tellabs.com> <893@mdavcr.UUCP> <33804@ut-emx.UUCP> Sender: news@ut-emx.UUCP Reply-To: awessels@walt.cc.utexas.edu (Allen Wessels) Organization: The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas Lines: 58 In article barnett@crdgw1.ge.com writes: >Wrong answer. I cut and paste long pathnames on my Unix box just fine. >It's like selecting icons, except they are filenames. And when you Oops, silly me, I though we were comparing the CLI with the Mac interface, not producing the ideal interface. I did say that there were things missing from the Mac interface. I miss both some of the power of the CLI and batch processing to name two. >consider filenames can have embedded spaces and foreign characters, I >could cut and paste Kanji filenames, even if I could not type them on >my keyboard. Right. The Mac of course, can do this as well. > >Another method that some Unix boxes support is "Drag and Drop", where >you can drag the file/object from the "finder" (or another >application) to the desired application, which then >opens it. This should be object oriented e.g. The Mac is headed this way, but Apple suffers from the "not invented here" syndrome. If some other machine already has a feature, Apple is loathe to include it in the System. Thank heaven the Lisa had "Stationery", or we might not be seeing it coming back. > Drag it to a trashcan to delete it > > Drag it to a printer to print it > > Drag it to a tape to archive it > > Drag it to an application, which will open it, include it, etc. > depending on the type of object selected and the > application running. Uh, what size screen are you assuming here? That is a lot of icons you have floating around. I'll admit that I liked the "drag to printer to print" feature of the Xerox 6085 I got to play with for a while. I don't know if this is the particular object oriented metaphor is what Apple is headed for. In spite of the name IAC, I wonder if applications are going to continue to be such distinct entities. Rather than bringing a document into an application, I wonder if bringing a particular application's toolset to bear on the document might not be the direction things are heading for. >The Standard GetFile dialog is just awkward, especially when you want >to handle two different contexts/applications. Much better to augment >the selection mechanism that already supports multiple contexts (i.e. Finder) >than to use a mechanism that forces you to repeat actions over and >over again. Well, I'll agree that it will probably go away someday, but most people don't do the kind of operations you're describing. Apple's attitude seems to be that if people in general won't need to do it, they should be confused by the presence of the option. I don't particularly like this attitude, but if I have to deal with it to get a Mac, so be it.