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From: kent@circus.camex.com (Kent Borg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps,comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Per-User Preferences (was: Extended command keys.)
Message-ID: <1518@camex.COM>
Date: 6 Sep 90 16:05:42 GMT
References: <GHH.90Aug24224834@clarity.princeton.edu> <2768@network.ucsd.edu> <11128@spool.cs.wisc.edu> <1990Sep4.172034.23034@cbnews.att.com> <1990Sep5.143446.21834@cs.utk.edu>
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Reply-To: kent@camex.com (Kent Borg)
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In article <1990Sep5.143446.21834@cs.utk.edu> wnn@ornl.gov (Wolfgang N. Naegeli) writes:
>Good idea to tie the Chooser name into these personal preferences sets! 
>Users often forget to,
>or are too lazy to, change the Chooser name. Since they are much more 
>likely to feel a real
>need to load their own preferences, we whould get a much higher rate of 
>correct Chooser names.

Yes, but what *is* the correct Chooser name?  The Chooser name might
be the name of the person using the computer or it might be the name
of the computer.  If the computer is used by only one person, then the
name won't be changing and it won't matter exactly which name is used.
If many different people use the same Mac things get confusing.

I prefer that the Chooser name not change all the time.  I like to
think of it more as the machine's name--after all, when I run Interpol
to see what has been recently added to the net, it is nice to know
what I am looking at.  If one person uses three different machines in
sequence I might end up with three different "John Doe"s out there.

Similarly, if Jane Doe is waiting for a LaserWriter which is being
tied up by John Doe, it would be nice if she had some way of knowing
which machine that really is.  She will only know if the Chooser name
is fairly stable.

As for sets of preferences, I think the Mac is best as a personal
computer.  To warp the personal aspects so as to make it more of a
multiuser computer seems a mistake.

(Note, A/UX does allow logging in.  Each user gets a personal System
Folder.)
Kent Borg                            internet: kent@camex.com   AOL: kent borg
                                            H:(617) 776-6899  W:(617) 426-3577
"Congress was about to scuttle our defense department ... Could our military 
industrial complex be backing Iraq?"  - my mother, 8-4-90