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From: sho@gibbs.physics.purdue.edu (Sho Kuwamoto)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: MFS folders (was Re: Tell me:  what was System 1.0 like?)
Message-ID: <5106@dirac.physics.purdue.edu>
Date: 15 May 91 23:50:40 GMT
References: <1991May14.233935.18192@hawk.cs.ukans.edu> <1991May15.171142.1992@MDI.COM> <1991May15.213025.4568@midway.uchicago.edu>
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Organization: Purdue Univ. Physics Dept, W.Lafayette, IN
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In article <1991May15.213025.4568@midway.uchicago.edu> jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john  cavallino) writes:
>Actually, System 7 Finder only minimally supports MFS diskettes.  All MFS
>folder support has been removed (MFS folders don't show up at all), and it
>won't let you drag folders onto an MFS disk (it displays an alert warning you
>to drag the items inside individually).  Oh well.  I think it would have
>presented a cleaner user interface if they had continued to support MFS
>folders, but perhaps the code was too arcane to be worth updating.

Although I've yet to get my hands on a copy of System 7, it seems to
me that getting rid of MFS folders would make the interface cleaner.
MFS folders have always acted differently than HFS folders.

  Grandmother: Why can't I name this folder "ferretLand"?
  Me:          Well, there's a file in that folder called "ferretLand."
  Grandmother: But SurfWriter is in a folder called "SurfWriter."
  Me:          Well, I take it back.  The only place you're not allowed
               to do that is on one-sided floppies.
  Grandmother: The hell with this.  I'm going back to knitting.
               Fetch me the damned knitting needles.

MFS can make StdFile confusing, I'm sure that aliases would have had
to work differently for HFS and MFS folders, etc. etc.  MFS folders
may have been convenient at one point in time, but keeping both types
of folders around certainly doesn't make the interface *cleaner*.

However, I wish it didn't make you drag items individually when moving
a folder to an MFS disk.  For better or for worse, the mac has always
had a kind of dwim attitude.  As an example, when you move a file from
one disk to another, it copies the file instead of moving it.  When
moving a folder to an MFS disk, it could put up a dialog telling you
that the files will be taken out of their folders for you and give you
the option of cancelling.

Now that I think about it, I think I'd be happier if it gave you the
option of moving or copying when you drag a file from one disk to
another.  

   "You've just dragged the file 'Hitler' from disk 'Hell' to
    disk 'Purgatory.'  Would you like to move it or just make a
    duplicate copy?"

-Sho
-- 
sho@physics.purdue.edu <<-- when I grow up, I want to be a
                            user-interface policeman.