Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!think.com!paperboy!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!mcsun!ukc!stl!dswt From: dswt@stl.stc.co.uk (D.S.W.Tansley) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: All about sys 7.0 Summary: Mark is a mega-hero! Message-ID: <4166@stl.stc.co.uk> Date: 28 Mar 91 10:58:54 GMT References: <1991Mar21.095051.29206@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <593@genco.bungi.com> <11391@jarthur.Claremont.EDU> Sender: news@stl.stc.co.uk Reply-To: "D.S.W.Tansley" Organization: STC Technology Limited, London Road, Harlow, Essex, UK Lines: 45 In the referenced article wilkins@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (Mark Wilkins) writes: >In article <593@genco.bungi.com> rad@genco.bungi.com (Bob Daniel) writes: >>This makes me squirm a bit that Apple says MF is multitasking. At best, MF >>is multiapplication. Try bringing up a dialog and watch all background >>processes come to a hault. > > Background processes keep going when a dialog is up, except in some very >rare cases where the dialog doesn't check for user input. Otherwise they >proceed as usual. >>I'd like to hear unflammable comments... > > I hope I didn't seem harsh. In any case, you're not alone in your views >and I'm sure the engineers at Apple know this. > >>Bob Daniel > >-- Mark Wilkins Mark, you're a bloody hero mate! That's the best & sanest response I've seen to an anti-cooperative multitasking philistine yet! :-) One more point to Bob: I'm a Mac user, not a Mac programmer, and when I press the mouse button in the menu bar, I expect the computer to respond to my command as fast as possible -- I'm running the computer, not the computer me. With current h/w, we don't have the MIPS to handle the beautiful responsiveness I get from key parts of the interface like this. (But yes, it could be a lot more responsive still in others!) Other, non-cooperative multitasking systems I've used (Sun3, 4, Windows 3) are porridge in comparison *in this respect*. One day, processors will be fast enough. Until then, Cooperative multitasking is a good design decision for the class of *users* the Mac is designed for, IMHO. =========================================================================== Stewart Tansley | STC Technology Ltd | 'Be cool, or be | London Rd, Harlow, CM17 9NA, UK | cast out...' dswt@stl.stc.co.uk | +44 279 429531 x2763 | Subdivisions, Rush =========================================================================== 'You know how that rabbit feels - going under your spinning wheels...' ===========================================================================