From: ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright)
Subject: Re: 7.1 vs. OS/2 and Windows NT
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 16:20:41 GMT
Organization: Engineering, CONVEX Computer Corp., Richardson, Tx., USA
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

In <1aot96INNch@matt.ksu.ksu.edu> nan@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Nan Zou) writes:

>>* Scalable fonts (Windows has, OS/2 not)
>Does ATM count?  I don't play with fonts too much.

I think he said "OS/2," not "ATM."  Why don't you "play with fonts 
too much?" That statement suggests that it's not easy to do.


>More precisely, OS/2 does not have the exact same form of IPC as
>AppleEvents, but it does have pipes, named pipes, semaphores, and
>Windows DDE and OLE based IPC.

AppleEvents are *not* a form of IPC.  They are a standard language
that programs can use in talking to one another.  You may have some
form of interprogram communications in OS2, but lacking a standard 
language it's not very useful.  Your program won't be able to talk
to JoePaint unless you've worked with Joe Programmer to make them
talk together.  And Chris Developer is likely doing something different,
which means that getting your program to talk to ChrisPaint will require
a major rewrite.  With AppleEvents, you can write one piece of code that
sends events that AE-event compatible application understands.


>>  concurrently, or are running on different machines on a network. (Not, Not)
>>* Built-in support for standard 24-bit color, with automatic interpolation

>Device Independent Graphics means any video device could be supported,
>be it 1-bit or 24-bit, with the necessary device driver.

Yes, but the PC doesn't have device-independent graphics. Instead,
you change a video card and find your networking software will no
longer run.  (Happened to me.)


>Multiple monitors is theoretically possible if hardware exists.

I've seen people kludge "multiple monitors" onto a PC.  But when
you look at the monitors, you see the same image on both monitors
(perhaps at a different size and bit depth).  The multiple monitors
do not give you any additional space to work with.


>HIG in IBM world is CUA (Common User Access), current spec is CUA 92.

So?  In CUA 92, have they finally figured out whether the menu
item that closes an application should be called "exit," "quit,"
or "close" (all of which are used by various Windows apps)?  

CUA 92, evidentally doesn't specify menu fonts that look
like they were designed by professionals.  At least, if it
does, OS2 doesn't use them.  CUA92 didn't prevent OS2 from
having buttons, controls, and dialog boxes that look like
they designed by art school dropouts, either.  It doesn't
even require OS2 and Windows to have short, mnemonic command-
keys instead of the long, hard-to-remember, nonmnemonic key
sequences.


>>* Standard support for temporal data, graphics data compression, both for
>>  static and real-time graphics and sound. (QuickTime) (Not, Not) 
>Different standards, MPC and Ultimedia.

Note the word *standard*.  Is there a standard format for sound
files that you can play back on *any* PC (not just the ones you
bought a special board for)? 


>Of course, OS/2 has quite a bit of features that MacOS doesn't have:
>pre-emptive MT, memory protection, multithreading, OO GUI, REXX, etc.

Ooh.  So, I guess that "threads package" thingie on my Developer's
CD was just a dream, right?  Just like MacApp, TCL, and all the
other object-oriented development tools that existed for the Mac
before the IBM PC world could even say "OOPS."
 

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy