Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!bu.edu!transfer!lectroid!angmar.sw.stratus.com!jmann From: jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann) Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: NOT (click to type) in NeXTStep? Message-ID: <2955@lectroid.sw.stratus.com> Date: 5 Nov 90 14:52:48 GMT References: <1990Oct28.165341.6949@cs.cmu.edu> Sender: usenet@lectroid.sw.stratus.com Reply-To: jmann@angmar.sw.stratus.com (Jim Mann) Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc. Lines: 25 In article , fox@allegra.att.com (David Fox) writes: |>In a multi-tasking operating system there is no need to activate |>and de-activate applications, only a need to be able to see which |>application is currently receiving input. The requirement of click- |>to-type is a vestige of non-multi-tasking operating systems like |>MS-DOS and MacOS. Even the Amiga window system can be configured |>so there is no need to click on applications to direct the input |>stream to them. This is a very disturbing revelation for someone |>like me who has been thinking of buying a NeXT machine. |> It is NOT just a vestige of non-multi-tasking systems. In saying this, you seem to be making the assumption that everyone would prefer the non-click-to-type method of activation. I disagree. I think most people, especially those NOT coming from a Sun environment, prefer the click-to-type scheme. Perhaps this is in part because it is what they are used to from Macs and PCs. One of the reasons I like my NeXT so much is that they DID build on reflexes many of us had developed from the micros we'd worked on: click to type, single click to select, double click to activate, drag over to select a region and so forth. I find Sun to be the odd machine out. Jim Mann Stratus Computer jim_mann@es.stratus.com