Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!m.cs.uiuc.edu!p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies
From: gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Virtual Finder
Message-ID: <104700068@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Date: 5 Jan 90 17:38:54 GMT
Lines: 52
Nf-ID: #N:p.cs.uiuc.edu:104700068:000:2934
Nf-From: p.cs.uiuc.edu!gillies    Jan  4 13:45:00 1990


As a first-time developer for the macintosh, I have some new
impressions about the way Apple does things.  From my impressions of
how Apple handles new enhancements, here is a predicted press release
for system 7.0.
-----------------------
APPLE DOCUMENTS SYSTEM 7.0 VIRTUAL MEMORY INTERFACE
 
CUPERTINO, California--April 12, 1990--Apple Computer, Inc.
released software interfaces for system 7.0, the next version of the
Macintosh operating system.  These interfaces will eventually be
included inside Macintosh, volume 6.
     According to Apple, virtual memory extensions will resemble most
other extensions to the macintosh line of computers.  Each new
computer model will have a slightly different ROM with a slightly
different interface, and developers will be expected to check
explicitly which computer and which ROM is being used, before using
any virtual memory feature.  Apple will also be releasing
VirtualFinder, an enhancement to Multifinder.  Therefore, developers
must also check whether their software is running in Finder,
MultiFinder, or VirtualFinder.  Actually, there will be no explicit
way to do this.  Apple recommends that, before calling any procedure
that might be available through multifinder or virtualfinder, you
should check to see if it is implemented.  Eventually, Apple hopes to
make all 700 procedures in the toolbox work this way.  That way,
Apple will be free to discard portions of the toolbox.  Programmers
will be expected to use other portions of the toolbox (or their own
custom code) to simulate the pieces that Apple intends to throw away.
     The most powerful applications will have a "VirtualFinder -
Friendly" bit set, which indicates that the application understands
all the new features in virtualfinder, and has been rewritten to
handle them.  Most existing Multifinder programs will break or cause
problems under virtual finder.  The Apple "Programmer's Guide to
VirtualFinder", 96 pages of critical technical details, will be
available 6 months after system 7.0, at a cost of only $100 to
certified developers.  As usual, non-certified developers will be
prohibited from obtaining this documentation.

In a related note, Apple has announced that it has acquired MacTutor
magazine in order to enlarge the staff of its new _d e v e l o p_
magazine, which is only for privileged Apple developers.  Apple's head
of user documentation, Bruce "blood sucking" Leach, was quoted as
saying,

  "These small-time developers are ruining the Macintosh Interface.
  Therefore, we have decided to close the macintosh software
  architecture to poor programmers.  They say that, to get in the mood
  for photography, you must burn a $100 bill.  Well, we here at Apple
  say, "To get in the mood for Macintosh programming, you're gonna hafta
  burn a $1000 bill."  We never intended for mom & pop operations to
  program the macintosh, and we apologize to our users for this lack of
  vision."