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From: aduncan@rhea.trl.oz.au (Allan Duncan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Converging systems
Message-ID: <2090@trlluna.trl.oz>
Date: 16 Aug 90 23:58:27 GMT
Sender: root@trlluna.trl.oz
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This is a repost - I got a curious mailer reply to the original from
amiga-relay, so I don't know how far it went the first time.


I saw this in the July issue of Dr. Dobb's Journal, relating to the Mac System
7 o/s.

". Message passing.  Changes to the Event Manager will allow messages to be
passed between applications rather than just within.

 . AppleEvents.  This is an Apple-defined set of standard messages that all
applications will be expected to handle and that all are permitted to send. 
Message passing between applications will not be limited to AppleEvents, but
AppleEvents will provide, in effect, a language for interapplication
communication.  It will also serve as the enabling technology for a user
scripting language.  The user scripting language will allow users to control
applications and the system itself with unprecedented (for the Macintosh)
flexibility and power, with a single, universal interface."



It gets to look like an Amiga running Arexx, doesn't it?  The main difference
is the phrase "that all are permitted to send".  As the author, Michael
Swaine, notes, "An unanswered message to your spreadsheet application
triggered from within a competitor's word processing application could
conceivably result in a mesage to the user such as 'Sorry.  That spreadsheet
program is to dumb to handle this simple request.  Maybe you should consider
buying our spreadsheet program ...'"

Apple certainly keeps its software suppliers on the straight and narrow.


Allan Duncan	ACSnet	a.duncan@trl.oz
(03) 541 6708	ARPA	a.duncan%trl.oz.au@uunet.uu.net
		UUCP	{uunet,hplabs,ukc}!munnari!trl.oz!a.duncan
Telecom Research Labs, PO Box 249, Clayton, Victoria, 3168, Australia.