[comp.sys.mac.programmer] Standard File dialogs going awa

jpd00964@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (08/24/89)

/* Written  4:21 pm  Aug 22, 1989 by earleh@eleazar.dartmouth.edu in uxa.cso.uiuc.edu:comp.sys.mac.programmer */
/* ---------- "Re: Standard File dialogs going awa" ---------- */
In article <2051@marvin.Solbourne.COM> dce@Solbourne.com
	(David Elliott) writes:
>     The plan is to replace the present awkward, List-Manager-like
>interface and all its hard to remember up-arrow, down-arrow,
>option-command arcane command set with something which is faster and
>more easy to use.  In place of the confusing multi-object dialog box,
>there will be a simple one-line command window.  Volume names will be
>done away with also, and in their place the user will be able to type
>in easy-to-remember hard-coded single-character drive names.  In place
>of the "Drive" button, users will have a simple, two-character command
>that they can use to switch volumes and folders.  The programmer
>interface will remain essentially the same for compatibility with
>older programs, but programs will have to be recoded and recompiled to
>take full advantage of new features of the expanded "SFCommand.Com"
>object-oriented file fetch and stash routines.
[yawn]
>     From the user interface end of things, one long-awaited feature
>of the new file access protocol is that Apple plans to do away with
>the Disk Initialization Package in favor of a new advanced "Abort,
>retry, ignore?" disk error detection and correction scheme.
[so's my IBM]
>     Preliminary user interface tests show that for a highly skilled
>typist who knows the exact location and name of every single file on
>her hard disk, file access times using the new "SFCommand.Com" routine
>are 500% to 800% faster than with the old SF{Get,Put}File suite.

On a macintosh?  Are you kidding me?  

 >    Apple plans to seed developers with beta versions of the entire
>SFCommand package in late 1990, providing they can work out licensing
>details with another company which claims proprietary rights to
>certain key parts of the user interface.  If these delicate
>negotiations should somehow go awry, look for another "Look and Feel"
>suit sometime the following year.  The developer seed package is
>scheduled to include the new stripped-down high-performance version of
>the Communications Toolbox, tentatively named "Ansi.Sys."

Sounds like IBM and Microsoft could sue Apple for copying their interface.
This is a joke right?  I am just being dense, people are going to flame
me for not laughing right?  Please say this is a joke.  I don't think anyone
could seriously believe that Apple would go for an interface that even the
creators of wanted to throw out.

Michael Rutman