From: har@ux.acs.umn.edu (--SeebS--)
Subject: Re: Considering switching to IBM
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy,misc.test
Organization: University of Minnesota
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1992 06:22:17 GMT

In article <y7ztw_c@rpi.edu> johnsd2@rpi.edu writes:
>A few points here. (1) I thot workbench was the file-manager...
>I am probably full of it but I'd like to know what this thing is.

There is no file-manager. You can quite easily run an amiga without
ever running workbench. In fact, I only run workbench because of one
buggy program that crashes if I don't run it. I'm a typist at heart. :)

>What I have seen of WorkBench [the file manager, that is] has left
>me with the impression that it is a cheap Finder knockoff,

Not really; workbench and finder are similar in many ways, but really,
they're both Xerox ripoffs. :)

>I haven't seen very much of it :) so once again I am probably full of it.
>Care to let me in on the wonders of the Workbench?

Ok. Workbench has full native support for larger-than-screen-sized displays,
as does the rest of amigados. MacOs has this now, but when I was using
macs heavily, it was bugridden. I believe they've mostly fixed that.

Workbench and finder both allow one to show files by icon, by name, or
whatever.

Workbench has support for icons of different sizes; not much of a difference
at first, but it can be very nice.

Workbench has support for "execute a command", allowing one to type in a
command and its arguments to execute it; this can be very useful. See, in
the mac world, people don't know what arguments do. Arguments allow you
to tell a command *everything* its supposed to do, then just run it and
walk away.

Mac paradigm: Open application. Once application is open, select actions.

Argument paradigm: Select actions, open application.

The argument paradigm is much better for certain actions, because it allows
you to specify everything you want, then ignore it, rather than specifying
the application, waiting, and specifying your actions.

However, the workbench is really mostly just there to be a GUI; the cli
is better than either workbench or finder.

Oh, another point: Workbench icons contain "tooltypes" which are essentially
arguments to the command. Thus, you can decide how you wish an app to be
invoked, and set up an icon to do this. MacOs/Finder makes no such provision.

>[same arguement
>more or less applies if the WorkBench is the GUI, except replace
>"Finder" with "MacOS"...]

The overall GUI: Intuition (the amiga GUI) wins hands down.

1] Unless the machine has actually crashed, you always have a choice. Mac
system error: "System error 2." Options: OK.  Amiga system error: "Task
failed (error xxxx xxxx) Wait for disk activity to stop." Options:
Suspend, Reboot. Allowing one to, for instance, simply suspend the task
in question and work for several hours more before actually rebooting, if
something else you are doing is of great importance.

2] "better" response to user activities. On a Mac, once the file requester
is up, you *must* pick a file or cancel. Period. Often, cancel will not
be an option (several such cases in older uSoft Words.) On the amiga, you
can *do something else*. You can go to another screen (probably your
workbench screen), and move files around, then go back, tell the file
requester to reexamine the disk, and choose the file you *want*.

>And be nice, set the flamethrower on "just singe a little bit"; remeber
>that I wont know about the wonders of the Amiga unless you say
>ADVOCATE :) them to me... :)

Ok. Sure. Ask away. I've used amigas and macs both *extensively*. Like, I
know how to do things on macs that uSoft and Apple both claim are
impossible; I had nothing else to do for a year. And I've been using amigas,
under both amigados and unix, for about a year and a half. (Using them enough
that my tendons are pretty much shot now.)

>[more deletia about speed]

All I can say is, well, I've never met a mac that could do most things as
fast as my computers. And the high end mac ii's *should* be "as fast".
Especially since I mostly saw them under system 6, which was faster, and
where there was only one thing happening at once.

>			- Dan Johnson
>And God said "Jeeze, this is dull"... and it *WAS* dull. Genesis 0:0


-- 
Peter Seebach, using my fiancee's acount. (Please use "SEEBS" in the subject
line, so we know who it's for.)  Polygamy: "There can be more than one."
"I love using MS-DOS - waiting for the machine gives me so much free time!"
har@ux.acs.umn.edu (Love Incarnate)
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