TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.ARPA (09/15/87)
I have to confess to not being very familiar with the MAC. I always thought that what was called the "Finder" on the MAC is what turned out to be called the "Desktop" on the GS (that's the program on the system disk that uses icons for disks/files, allows you to open a directory, look at it in a few different orders, and copy and delete files just by moving icons.) How does the new Finder, mentioned in a recent message, differ from the Desktop? tmpl@dockmaster.arpa (for someone who asked why address signatures are needed: I don't know about other systems, but it turns out that the way info-apple is received on this system it gets posted to a multics forum (aka bulletin board) automatically and in the process it completely loses the authors address -- all that's left is the info-apple ... brl.arpa address.)
CDTAXW@IRISHMVS.BITNET ("Mark B. Johnson") (09/15/87)
To clarify my last message for anyone not familiar with the Macintosh and under the impression that the Desktop program on the GS was the same as the Finder on the Mac, it is not. The Desktop program started out like Catalyst - a mouse-based file selector for the Apple II series. The Desktop program was actually MouseDesk before Apple acquired the rights to it. It will also run on the Apple //c and //e (and it can run without a mouse). The Desktop does not actually give you much more than ProSEL or any other selector, but it does add a mouse interface. The Finder, however, is much more Mac-like. You can move and copy files and directories, launch documents without opening the application first- although it doesn't seem to find applications buried in other folders. Icons are defined for the more common things - BASIC programs (in color) AppleWorks documents, etc. The largest thing is that is runs under ProDOS 16 and not ProDOS 8, this will become more and more important as the "full-fledged" version of ProDOS 16 is released and more and more software begins following the trend towards 16 (and eventually 32 bit) paths. I don't have any documentation on it yet and haven't had much time in the last day or so to work with it, but I will report problems, features etc, as I stumble upon them. Most will be comparisons with the Mac Finder so most people have a base to work from, but we should all try to not overassume any knowledge of that system. To the II-only user, the Finder will be great. From one who uses both machines (and Multi-Finder on the Mac) it is a start, but it could use some improvement, and an accelerator card wouldn't hurt either. Mark