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From: dwal@ellis.uchicago.edu (David Walton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: System 7.0, Strike one, two....
Message-ID: <1991May22.011214.10977@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 22 May 91 01:12:14 GMT
References: <5878@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au>
Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (NewsMistress)
Organization: University of Chicago, Academic and Public Computing
Lines: 64

In article <5878@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au> pnm@goanna.cs.rmit.oz.au (Paul BIG-EARS Menon) writes:
[lots of stuff deleted at various points]
>    Gripe 2:
>	This VM restriction on removable cartridges could be one reason
>	why we will stop acquiring Macs.  Removable media is the only way
>	we can allow students to use local HDs on Mac IIs without risk of 
>	viruses (They can then be responsible for their own data).  memory
>	hungry System 7.0, in its wisdom has decided not to allow VM (swap)
>	on this type of media.  The dangers of having swap on removable
>	media can be easily obviated.  This simplistic solution will not do!
>	I'd like to hear of a solution soon, or else.  This is no threat,
>	this is reality speaking.

I'm not sure that the problem is as simple as you think.  Perhaps from
a theoretical standpoint, yes.  But I think System 7 team investigated
the possibility of error trapping for VM on removable media, and found
that the only difference they could make was to have the machine
simply hang instead of showing a bomb.  This could be wrong; I only
heard part of the response.  Perhaps somebody who was also at the
System software feedback session at the Developer's Conference can
correct me.

BTW, virus problems, in contrast, ARE easily obviated.  It's called
GateKeeper.  Or Disinfectant.  We've been using GK/GKA in our public
clusters for some time now, and have had almost no problems with
viruses.  Using removable media is an innovative solution to the
problem, but I simply won't buy that it's the only effective way to
guard against viruses.

>	There are two outstanding features of System 7 which everyone has been 
>	itching for, VM and 32 bit clean functionality.  Neither Apple or
>	Symantec have come clean on this.

For you, perhaps.  I've been waiting for 1) Dynamic Apple menu; 2)
Aliases; 3) BetterFinder (tm); 4) File sharing; and 5) TrueType.  In
that order.  From a programming standpoint, the most important things
to me were the Edition Manager and all the neato IAC stuff.  I do use
Virtual Memory, and I'm disappointed that MacTCP isn't compatible with
it (although I'm still using both and I've yet to see a crash).  But I
also think that if Apple had waited for every single one of their
drivers to be compatible with 7.0 before shipping it, the whole market
might have migrated to Windows 6.2 on 786 machines by the time it came
out.  :-)


>    Right now, to me, System 7.0 is unusable.

I'm sorry to hear that.  But I really don't have much sympathy if
you're simply not using it because you can't use Virtual Memory and
because the Finder doesn't correctly resolve aliases between
identically named local and remote hard disks.


>    Oh well, I guess I can look at the pretty icons... someone did a spiffy
>    job.

With the icons and with a lot of other things as well.

>    Paul Menon,

-- 
David Walton            Internet: dwal@midway.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago   {  Any opinions found herein are mine, not  }
Computing Organizations {  those of my employers (or anybody else). }