Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!apple.com!rmh From: rmh@apple.com (Rick Holzgrafe) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: give me solid facts: why is the mac better than MeSsy DOS/WINDOWS Message-ID: <12337@goofy.Apple.COM> Date: 1 Mar 91 00:13:29 GMT Sender: usenet@Apple.COM Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 74 References:<91.056.16:01:18@ira.uka.de> <91057.162111CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu> <4161@gmdzi.gmd.de> In article <4161@gmdzi.gmd.de> strobl@gmdzi.gmd.de (Wolfgang Strobl) writes: > >Since Day One, Macintoshes have been equipped with a mechanism built into the > >firmware of the machine to allow applications ("programs," to you MS-DOS > >people) to share information. This is the "Clipboard" concept, and its real > >beauty is that it is designed to be *completely* application-independant. > > Is this really true? I.e. is the clipboard support really built into > the firmware of the Macintosh? Yes - read on for some details. I wouldn't say it's *completely* application-independant. > I think Windows implements the clipboard metaphor similar to the way > the Macintosh does: not at all similar to a real clipboard, fortunately. > It implements a few things which simplify information sharing between > applications runninc concurrently (different ones or multiple instances > of one application): format rendering on demand and private clipboard formats > , for example. I don't know how the Macintosh handles multiple applications > or multiple clipboard formats. When a user tells an application to "copy", the app stores the specified data in the clipboard. The data may, if desired, be stored in several different formats: a word processor, for example, could store a chunk of text in its internal format (for pasting back into another document in the same application), and in plain unformatted ASCII (for pasting into other word processors or into simple text applications), and as a picture (for pasting into graphics applications). Each format is tagged with an ID so you can tell which is which. When the user tells an application to "paste", it looks at all the formats available in the clipboard, chooses the one it likes best, and uses that one. This is invisible to the user, who just "copies" in one place, "pastes" in another, and sees the pasted data appear in the most useful format. Two formats, text and PICT, are standards supported by nearly every Mac application. This allows transfer of text and pictures between a wide variety of applications - as someone else recently stated, pictures drawn in MacPaint, MacDraw, SuperPaint, HyperCard, MacProject, and a host of others, can be pasted into any word processor: MacWrite, WriteNow, FullWrite, MS Word, WordPerfect, Nisus, and others. The system isn't perfect. There is no strong standard format for formatted text - if you copy a paragraph from MacWrite into Nisus (or between any two dissimilar word processors), the font and typestyle information is usually lost; only the ascii text remains. (Fortunately, one doesn't need to do this often; one word processor at a time is usually enough for most folks.) EPS (pictures in PostScript) are not understood by the majority of apps. Graphics apps written before Color QuickDraw often can't cope with color pictures (and often can, but we prefer 100% compatibility when we can get it.) But by and large, the clipboard works smoothly and invisibly, and it really is one of the strengths of the Mac. BTW: It's rare for me to post into an argumentative thread. I did so this time because someone asked for some real information I could supply (and I hope it answers your question.) I have never seen anyone's mind changed by argument. The fellow who started this thread said he keeps losing arguments to the DOS fans - but I notice he remains unconvinced that their arguments are correct! I confidently predict that if he begins to win those arguments, the DOS fans will be equally unconvinced. (Of course, if arguing is simply your hobby, then have at it. :-) ========================================================================== Rick Holzgrafe | {sun,voder,nsc,mtxinu,dual}!apple!rmh Software Engineer | AppleLink HOLZGRAFE1 rmh@apple.com Apple Computer, Inc. | "All opinions expressed are mine, and do 20525 Mariani Ave. MS: 3-PK | not necessarily represent those of my Cupertino, CA 95014 | employer, Apple Computer Inc."