lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca (Larry Phillips) (01/03/90)
In <89122504041230@masnet.uucp>, rg@uunet!unhd@canremote.uucp (rg@uunet!unhd) writes: >From: rg@uunet!unhd (Roger Gonzalez ) >Subj: Xerox sues Apple!!! (GUI Design) >Orga: Marine Systems Engineering Lab > >The Mac methodology seems to be "I am an object, and am associated >with the tool that created me. I won't let you use the wrong tool, >so don't worry." PC's look at it notably differently. They say >"There are objects, and there are tools. Use any tool you want on >any object. It's up to you to figure out the right tool for the >job." I prefer the latter schema, because it is inherently more >powerful. More dangerous, but more powerful. In addition, I think >its closer to the way that people think. I may be wrong about this >whole section, but whenever I've tried to look at or otherwise hack >into things at a low level, things complained noisily because I >wasn't using the proper applications. I am partial to the 'operate directly on me and I'll use an appropriate tool, but associate me with any tool you deem desirable'. I'm not much of a GUI user, but I think ths can be done on the Amiga by, in the former case, double-clicking on the object icon, or, in the latter case, 'shift-clicking' the object, followed by double-clicking the tool. In Sun's XView, the operation is similar. Double-click an object like a text file, and it will open the editor with the object as content. To use another tool, you "drag 'n drop' the object, into, for example, into the mail 'compose' window, or a shell window, or a terminal window.. basically amything that can understand the object at the time you drop it. This, to me, makes a lot of sense, and aalogies can be made to a lot of things we do in everyday life. Pick up a bolt, and the immediate tool that comes to mind is a screwdriver, but it is perfectly OK to use the bolt cutters too. I have always wanted a GUI that would allow me to 'get down to the nitty gritties' for things like deleting a bunch of files using wildcards, but it's a tough one to envision making into something that's intuitive for the novice, yet powerful enough for the veteran. -larry -- " All I ask of my body is that it carry around my head." - Thomas Alva Edison - +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | // Larry Phillips | | \X/ lphillips@lpami.wimsey.bc.ca -or- uunet!van-bc!lpami!lphillips | | COMPUSERVE: 76703,4322 -or- 76703.4322@compuserve.com | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+