From: bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: 7.1 vs. OS/2 and Windows NT
Date: 6 Oct 92 17:31:39 EDT
Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA

In article <1aot96INNch@matt.ksu.ksu.edu>, nan@matt.ksu.ksu.edu (Nan Zou) writes:
> bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman) writes:
> 
>>System 7 features: 
>>* Scalable fonts (Windows has, OS/2 not)
> Does ATM count?  I don't play with fonts too much.

Yes it does. Mea culpa.

>>* InterApplication communication, with provisions for App to App communications
>>  using standard terminology (AppleEvents), on the same machine or over a
>>  network. (Windows not, OS/2 not)
> 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.

Pipes and DDE links provide only the "phone line" between applications. The
Mac provides this with the PPC Toolbox (Program to Program Comm). It is the
layers ON TOP of this link that are important to making applications
communicate. What's the point of linking to an app if you don't know how to
talk to it.

>>* Support for "live copy and paste" between applications that aren't running
> Don't know what that means.

If you change something in document A that you've pasted into document B,
the changes get updated in B.

>>* 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.

I had more conditions, if you read on, but yes. Do these devices exist
for OS/2? Are there device drivers for this stuff? 24-bit color devices are
commonplace in the Mac market, and some Macs have this built in. I haven't
seen the same for the PC market.

>>  to differing bit depths. The ability to support multiple monitors with
> 
> I tried running Wing Commander, a 256-color DOS game on a 16-color PM
> desktop, the window gets dithered into 16 colors and the game runs, not
> too pretty but it runs.

How about OS/2 applications, not DOS apps?

>>  differing depths, and to change the depth on the fly. (Not, Not)
> 
> Multiple monitors is theoretically possible if hardware exists.

But it doesn't. And can you change the depth on the fly? (Windows can't)

>>* Human Interface Guidelines and standards sufficient to form consistancy 
>>  between applications (Not, Perhaps)
> 
> HIG in IBM world is CUA (Common User Access), current spec is CUA 92.

A) is it any good? and B) is anything written to support it)

>>* Support for the localization of Sorting order, Data and Time formats,
>>  currency, measurement, calenders and numbers (Not, Not)
> 
> Windows yes, OS/2 yes.

Perhaps I missed some of these.

>>* 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.

Incomplete standards. They both require specific hardware. Ouch. QuickTime
doesn't, although it fully supports additional hardware. 

>>* Standard color picker (Not, Not)
> 
> What is it?

It allows you to choose colors via a standard interface. There might be
something for OS/2 in this vein.

>>* Automatic slot conflict resolution (NuBus and Slot Manager) (Not, Not)
>>  ( MCA helps, but it isn't automatic )
> 
> Hardware issue, both MCA and EISA have auto device configuration,
> running some register setup program during device installation.

Important hardware issue. Hardware is part of the system.

>>* Power management for battery-powered machines. (Not, Not)
> 
> Hardware issue.

Again, an important one. It can greatly impact how the OS works.

> 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.

Aside from REXX (oog), the remainder are cool technology, but offer
doubtful benefit to the user, as we have discussed.

> (out of concern for Bill's health, I will not mention the three-letter
> 'C' word here).  

Gracias.

-- 
Bill Coleman, AA4LR                ! CIS: 76067,2327    AppleLink: D1958
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