Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!ncar!mephisto!bloom-beacon!robf
From: robf@athena.mit.edu (Robert E Fellows)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Using Win 3.0 on Shared-Use Machines
Message-ID: <1990Jul6.152405.929@athena.mit.edu>
Date: 6 Jul 90 15:24:05 GMT
Sender: news@athena.mit.edu (News system)
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Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Well, I have a different kind of problem: how to introduce Windows as a
standard environment where several people may share the same machines.
I run a small microcomputer lab where a large number of people share a
small number of machines, and over time I have finally prevailed in
coercing people to launch all their DOS applications from their private
user directory, rather than from the application directory, thereby
keeping the hard disks relatively free of endless unidentifiable
rubbish.  In the DOS world, PATH statements freed us some time ago from
having to run applications from their own directory, and then to
indicate specifically where the data files should go (done differently
in each application).

As far as I can tell, Windows 3.0 throws this concept away, in the sense
that there is no ability to set and maintain a "current" default
directory for data files.  If you start a windows app from DOS, (i.e.
'win excel'), then the File Open dialog will default to the current
directory.  But if you start Windows and launch applications from the
program manager, the default directory for all apps (including a DOS
shell) is changed -- at least on my machine -- to the windows directory.
For a DOS app, at least I can specify a startup directory other than
that containing the application in the PIF file, but I don't necessarily
always want an app to start from the same directory, and I would prefer
to have windows default to the current DOS directory or to be somehow
tied to one's current window in the File Manager.  It's back to the old
days when you have to specifically indicate the directory you want your
data saved in by calling up File Open (or typing the full path name in
Save As) for each application you work with.  That may be fine if you
are the only user on a machine, but I know exactly what it will mean for
me: the windows directory will be full of junk, and the users won't be
able to figure out where their files ended up.  Is there a solution to
this, or am I misunderstanding how it works?  It seems like a pretty
basic organization issue.

It's not hard to imagine how Windows could maintain the notion of a
current directory -- for example, a window in File Manager could
automatically open to the current directory, shown in the status bar,
and the current directory would be changed by putting the focus into a
different duirectory window.  But at least windows shouldn't
unilaterally change the current directory, as the program manager does
now -- it is possible that the user started windows in a particular
directory for a reason.

Are there any out there who have grappled with how to make Windows (and
Windows apps) work on shared-use machines?  My current approach will
probably be to run windows apps from DOS only, and force windows to exit
when the application terminates (through sending keys to the program
manager).  But that just doesn't seem to be making the best use of windows.

Rob Fellows
uunet!ATHENA.MIT.EDU!robf