Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!swatsun!jackiw
From: jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu (Nick Jackiw)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Checking for MF (was Re: Need some MF help)
Message-ID: <2654@carthage.cs.swarthmore.edu>
Date: 7 Apr 89 15:33:47 GMT
References: <1203@internal.Apple.COM> <2756@pegasus.ATT.COM>
Reply-To: jackiw@carthage.UUCP (Nick Jackiw)
Distribution: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Organization: Visual Geometry Project, Swarthmore College, PA
Lines: 56

In article <2756@pegasus.ATT.COM> ech@pegasus.ATT.COM (Edward C Horvath) writes:
> 
> As long as screen real
> estate is at a premium (which is the forseeable future, especially on
> the Compact and Laptop macs), I'm going to want to help my user get the
> most mileage out of that screen appearance.  That means I want to be
> SENSITIVE to the presence of other apps, just so I can get out of the way.
> 
> Arguments to the effect that apps that launch, or react visibly to suspend
> events "shouldn't do that" -- that ONLY Apple can break Apple's rules --
> reflect a bad attitude.  If Apple needs to do it, someone else does too.
> The market is capable of assessing departures from the interface guidelines
> and deciding if the departure is appropriate or not.  VersaTerm's behavior
> is a case in point: I NEED the whole screen for a 24x80 terminal emulator,
> but I want it OUT OF THE WAY when I'm not typing at it.  Lonnie did the
> right thing, and the guidelines be damned: they're guidelines, not dogma.
> 

Excellent points, Ned.  Furthermore, Apple's guidelines allegedly apply to
commercial (or at least public) "development."  Believe it or not, some of
us still "write programs" instead of developing.  If I want to draw directly
to the screen, for my OWN PRIVATE ENDS, I feel like I've paid enough for my
machine and documentation to be able to do this.  When I do, though, it
would be really nice to be able to say "Can't use under Multifinder" simply
to prevent me from trying anything stupid.  A more vital example: a buggy
app, almost guaranteed to crash and perhaps fatally, undergoing testing.
Did you forget to save all your files in all other partitions before 
launching it?  No? Well, I wish I could warn you you should; but Apple
won't let me.

Note also that the mysterious "Set Aside" option which is currently being
offered by the party-line as pancea to all our woes is simply a meta-hack.
Apple is downgrading the incredibly clever and useful visual nature of
MultiFinder to Switcher's seemingly uni-process model.  Larry, how am I
going to compare data from two apps with one of them set aside?  How am
I going to click on the app I want next (I don't use Suitcase, and so my
full Apple-menu is tremendously tedious to navigate).  Moreover, what's
going to happen to things like your TimeKeeper, or Brecher's PowerStation,
or Sinclair's MacEyes, or my Tescher ... all aesthetically (and some
practically) useful additions to my desktop?  It really seems like Apple
has Set Aside its usual good sense to stick to an ideologically-
entrenched but conceptually-faulty idea.

> Larry, you have my respect on most issues, but on this one you need to
> reassess your position.  Apple does not know best about everything, your
> need to innovate is the same as my need to innovate (does SmallTalk-80
> follow the interface guidelines?), don't tell me what I need isn't
> important, or isn't appropriate. 

Agreement...to ALL parts.

-- 
     _  _|\____    Nick Jackiw | Visual Geometry Project | Math Department
   / /_/   O>  \   ------------+-------------------------+ Swarthmore College
   |       O>   |  215-328-8225| jackiw@cs.swarthmore.edu| Swarthmore PA 19081
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