From: jmalloy@itsmail1.hamilton.edu (Joseph T. Malloy)
Subject: Re: Win NT's "bad looks"
Organization: Hamilton College - Clinton, NY
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 00:21:23 GMT

In article <1993Jan25.172343.2620@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca> gary@nshade.uah.ualberta.ca (Gary Ritchie) writes:
>>
>> Let's also not forget the third party vendors who may offer something
>> akin to "Norton Desktop for Windows NT" (I hope! I just installed NT
>> last night -- it went flawlessly and works as expected (i.e., sluggishly
>> but well) -- and was disappointed to be back at Program Manager/File
>> Manager again after using Norton Desktop for so long (so I'll switch to
>> NT every now and then and stick with Win 3.1 in the interim).  Indeed, I
>> would hope for some alternatives for OS/2 as well, since in my opinion
>> the Workplace shell is ugly, awkward, unintuitive and buggy.
>> 
>
>I'm about to switch programming jobs from the NeXT back to DOS/Windows.   
>Until I can get NeXTSTEP 486 on my work machine :-), is there a  
>Windows-based program manager that has the sorts of functionality of the  
>NeXT workspace?  How does Norton Desktop compare, in terms of actual  
>usability?  I always found with the standard Windows tools that it was  
>easier to drop to the DOS prompt to do file manipulation (especially since  
>I type 95 WPM), but that on the NeXT I *usually* use the graphical front  
>end for copying, launching, etc...
>
>I'm not interested in starting a GUI war; I'm just looking for feedback,  
>having been out of the Windows environment for a couple of years.

What?  You don't want a GUI/gooey war?  Why the heck are you posting in
an advocacy group, fer gosh sakes???

(Um, that was humor, by the way.  Alright, not very good humor, but...)

At any rate, one of the nice things about Windows is the number of
alternatives to Progman/Fileman there are.  I read just today a preview
of Pc-Tools for Windows (from Central Point software), which sounds like
it goes Norton Desktop one better.  But beyond that, there's Dashboard
and other commercial alternatives and a large number of shareware
alternatives, too. One I played with briefly is called ODESK.ZIP and is,
allegedly, a quasi-clone of the NeXT desktop (with which I have
absolutely no experience, so I cannot judge the ODESK claim).  I, too,
used to drop to a DOS window and/or use PC-Tools (old DOS version under
Windows) to take care of file management, but I find that even the Win
3.1 file manager is adequate for simple, daily, chores.  I've been using
Norton Desktop since version 1 and like it just file (it lets me pile up
a number of app icons on the right hand side of my screen (sorta NeXT
like) and start them from there or drag/drop something onto the icon to
start it with that file).  I don't bother with the printer or shredder
icons, but that's emminently configurable under Norton...

I'd say shop around: ftp some alternatives from CICA and give them a
try.  Read reviews of NDW and the soon-to-be-released PC tools for
Windows and pick one of them (btw, the review I read of PC Tools for Win
appears in the newest issue of PC/Computing).

Good luck!

jmalloy@hamilton.edu

Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy