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From: lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: A/UX window systems, Mac toolbox, etc
Message-ID: <7533@apple.Apple.Com>
Date: 2 Mar 88 02:39:03 GMT
References: <4129@hoptoad.uucp> <283@rhesus.primate.wisc.edu> <1710@ssc-vax.UUCP> <3996@vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com>
Reply-To: lsr@apple.UUCP (Larry Rosenstein)
Organization: Advanced Technology Group, Apple Computer
Lines: 35

In article <3996@vdsvax.steinmetz.ge.com> barnett@steinmetz.ge.com (Bruce G. Barnett) writes:
>
>understand how Apple can provide the same interface in a multi
>application environment. How would pull-down menus work with multiple
>applications? They can't all grab the top of the screen.
>Context-sensitive pop-up menus make much more sense to me. But then
>you would need more than one button on the mouse.

One can switch the menu bar, as is done in MultiFinder.  One could have
application-specific menus in a bar within the window (as is done in
Microsoft Windows).  One can have a moveable menu bar, or menus that can be
torn off and positioned on the screen (as in HyperCard).  One can work
around the single mouse button by making a mouse sensitive area that
brings up the menus.

>Someone once made the point that it is easy to grow downward than to
>grow upward. That is, it is easier to convert a multi-application,
>multi-tasking, color window system into a single color, single user
>system than vice versa.

I don't think one direction is easier than another.  If you design for the
more powerful environment you probably will take advantage of features that
aren't available in the other environment.  

>I bet Apple is finding out that converting the Mac toolbox to Unix
>is more complicated than they thought. 

The difficulty (as I understand it -- I'm not associated with the A/UX
project) is getting the exact same code, which is in ROM, and was written
for the Mac O/S, to run under A/UX.  

-- 
		 Larry Rosenstein,  Object Specialist
 Apple Computer, Inc.  20525 Mariani Ave, MS 32E  Cupertino, CA 95014
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