Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!pacbell.com!ucsd!nosc!baron!ryptyde!dant
From: dant@ryptyde.UUCP (Daniel Tracy)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: De-macification of the Amiga (Re: The Amiga's Future)
Keywords: Future, Amiga, etc.
Message-ID: <81@ryptyde.UUCP>
Date: 21 Jun 91 06:00:05 GMT
References: <61@ryptyde.UUCP> <1991Jun18.125532.3766@NCoast.ORG> <73@ryptyde.UUCP> <1991Jun20.160550.27873@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Reply-To: dant@ryptyde.UUCP (Daniel Tracy)
Organization: Ryptyde Timesharing (ryptyde.cts.com)
Lines: 32

Responding to the following:

"This is something the application should decid at run time, not the OS.
For instance, I can load executables into most Amiga text editors and
patch them. I can load IFF files and edit the headers if I want. I would
be really fustrated if the OS refused to let me drop ANY file into a
text editor."

If the text editor will normally open any file and edit it, then the OS
will allow you to drop any file on the text editor icon. It is NOT the OS's
decision, it is the application's decision.

"I don't think the Mac's drag and drop allows you to drop an icon into
an Application's window and have it load it."

Since, on a Macintosh, a window represents a document, you wouldn't be
opening the dragged file, but rather appending documents. The window is
a document in itself, so why would this be wanted? It appears by the above
that the Amiga uses a metaphor in which windows represent programs. How
do you open more than one document at a time in a single application?

"The "icon alias" sounds like a link in the filesystem rather than
a true alias done by software. This means the GUI has to parse more
files in the directory tree whereas a software alias would be
"instantaneous" (cause it wouldn't be saved n the directory)"

An alias on a Macintosh is truly a file. The file has a type indicating
it is an alias, and when programs pass this file to the File Manager,
the function is performed on the real file. The Alias functions in all
ways as the original, and may be placed anywhere, on any volume, moved,
renamed, etc. You may even rename the original. The OS will maintain
the "link".