Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:41238 comp.sys.mac:45486 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mailrus!ncar!ames!zodiac!jtn From: jtn@zodiac.ADS.COM (John Nelson) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Something else you can't do on the Mac Message-ID: <10287@zodiac.ADS.COM> Date: 4 Jan 90 22:44:22 GMT References: <21628@mimsy.umd.edu> <3470@hub.UUCP> Organization: Advanced Decision Systems, Mt. View, CA (415) 960-7300 Lines: 36 >> I think you missed a point. When he says "any time you want from DOS", I >> think he means "any time you want from the DOS prompt." Using a DA, a Mac >> user can literally view a file at any time, even while running in another >> program. (Under MultiFinder, you can run teachtext simultaneously with >> another application, but a DA is faster for ASCII-only files.) > >You're probably right; he probably meant from the command prompt. Which makes >DAs even more powerful than TYPE. But his point was also that DAs like that >aren't shipped with the OS. TeachText is. So while DAs are a more powerful >concept, you don't get one with a vanilla Mac. Yo do get TeachText. And >MultiFinder, by the way. A "more" or "page" DA is clearly the way to go, however to make it even SIMPLER the finder could do the following: You have a pure text file and you want to open it so you double click on it. Ooops, there's obviously no application for something called "document" so the finder automatically pops up a menu of popular applications for the user to select from and then opens up the document with the selected application. Or the finder could be programmed to open "documents" with a default application like Teachtext. It really isn't helpful to the user to display alerts that say things like "oh... I can't open that." A beteter philosophy is to have the computer propose solutions(i.e. "what would you like me to open this unknown document with?"). -- John T. Nelson UUCP: sun!sundc!potomac!jtn Advanced Decision Systems Internet: jtn@potomac.ads.com 1500 Wilson Blvd #512; Arlington, VA 22209-2401 (703) 243-1611