Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.programmer:6429 comp.sys.mac:32198
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!dewey.soe.berkeley.edu!oster
From: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu (David Phillip Oster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: APDA on a disk
Message-ID: <29224@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 19 May 89 01:13:47 GMT
References: <31042@apple.Apple.COM>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: oster@dewey.soe.berkeley.edu.UUCP (David Phillip Oster)
Organization: School of Education, UC-Berkeley
Lines: 16

Apple should finally endorse some file format for fonted text + pictures.
They should also endorse some clipboard format for the same data.  I don't
much care which format apple picks:

(.) Microsoft's Rich Text Format
(.) TEXT + STYL (which is what New Text Edit uses, as a clipboard format)
(.) MacWrite version 2.2

Are all formats that spring to mind. Each has their limitations.
Postscript, or any other format so general that you can write an inifinite
loop "macro" is not a good idea, since programs will need to simply parse
this format into their native format.

But, please endorse _some_ single, well documented format. Issue a few
public domain tools for reading or converting that format. The Macintosh
is less than it could be as a result of this babel.