Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!linac!att!rutgers!pyrnj!esquire!baumgart From: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: All about sys 7.0 Message-ID: Date: 28 Mar 91 18:14:38 GMT References: <1991Mar26.174540.8425@xn.ll.mit.edu> <1991Mar27.163059.27061@fwi.uva.nl> Sender: news@DPW.COM Organization: Davis Polk & Wardwell Lines: 37 In-reply-to: freek@fwi.uva.nl's message of 27 Mar 91 16:30:59 GMT In article <1991Mar27.163059.27061@fwi.uva.nl> freek@fwi.uva.nl (Freek Wiedijk) writes: The mac is not multitasking iff it is showing a watch cursor. Question: Did you ever see a watch cursor on the mac. If so: that mac was not multitasking at that moment. Again, it would be nice if people who post statements like these would at least try them out. The watch cursor indicates that the foreground application is doing something, and not ready to accept any more user input at the moment. It doesn't mean anything else. When GIFConverter opens and displays GIF files, it displays an animated juggling cursor. That cursor means the same thing as the watch cursor -- basically, you can't do anything in GIFConverter right then, but you could switch to another application and do some other work. Of course, the fact that it's doing very CPU- and graphics-intensive work doesn't mean that your download stops, or that anything else in the background stops. That's because Multifinder allows the Mac to multitask. Whether or not it's "real" multitasking, or "official" multitasking, or "preemptive" multitasking, it *does* allow you to have several programs all working simultaneously. Sounds like multitasking to me. BTW: did you know that the watch cursor contains a HUGE bug: either it indicates nine o'clock (which it isn't), or it spins like crazy. Why can't it show the proper time? Look at it this way: The watch cursor shows the correct time twice a day. -- Steve Baumgarten | "New York... when civilization falls apart, Davis Polk & Wardwell | remember, we were way ahead of you." baumgart@esquire.dpw.com | cmcl2!esquire!baumgart | - David Letterman