Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Mac Flaws
From: goblec@physc1.byu.edu
Date: 13 Dec 92 17:21:02 -0700
Distribution: world
Organization: Brigham Young University

Flaws in the Mac
----------------

When you consider that in large measure System 7.0 is really
a set of patches to the operating design of the original
Mac 128k the MacOS is very impressive.  It has aged much
better than DOS.  There are many new features that need to
be included on the Mac.  Some of these would work better in
an object oriented approach to OS.  Perhaps some will be in
Pink.  Many could be included within the Mac right now.

1) OBJECT COMMUNICATIONS

   This is rumored to be part of AppleScript.  AppleScript
   is supposed to be an objected oriented script language
   controlling communication between applications on the 
   Mac.  Ideally all Mac programs will now be written with
   a complete even structure driven by apple events.  This
   will make programs easy to customize.
   
   What is needed though is a folder akin to the control
   panel or font folder for object communications.  This
   is part of the NeXT OS.  There is a menu called services
   that lets you graph numbers from your Word Processor and
   then insert the resultant graphic.  General spell checkers,
   mail and other services are available in this manner on
   the NeXT.  The advantage of this is that applications can
   break up the monoliths into small applications to do 
   specific tasks on a document.  The technology is in place
   on the Mac to do this, but needs to be standardized with
   evangelical pushing of developers to make use of the
   technology.  Apple Events have been around for more than
   a year, with two years for developers.  Few applications
   make effective use of them yet.  Hopefully Applescript
   with the AppleMail utilities will bring this about.
   (weren't they supposed to be part of the original Sys 7.0?)
   
2) DRAG AND DROP

   Right now the Finder handles drag and drop quite nicely.
   Unfortunately that is the only thing that handles drag and
   drop other than text within word to other locations withing
   word.  On the NeXT files can be embedded within mail by
   dragging the file from the browser into the mail window.
   This can be done on the Mac.  There is a init for Xferit
   that lets you drag files between a FTP session and the
   Finder for example.  On the NeXT though there are dozens
   of the things that can be dragged.  Colors can be dragged
   between windows, files from the browser, etc.
   
3) OPENING THE SYSTEM

   Apple made a good step in moving Fonts from the System file
   to a separate folder.  The rest of the commonly used 
   resources need to have similar things done to them.  Sounds,
   multi-national scripts and keyboards, printer drivers and
   CTB files each need to have their own folder.  Right now 
   these files are in the Extensions folder and the System 
   itself.  There are some utilities that allow this, but it
   really needs to be in the OS standard.  Files should be
   able to be dragged out without rebooting also.  A nice
   little program like the Extensions Manager could then
   control what resources are available.  
   
4) SECURITY

   The security that is available for file serving should be
   put on the Mac itself.  It would be very nice to have a
   password on the Mac as an option with the same interface I
   use when publishing folders.  ie. have an optional password
   with the same users as those in my network CDEV.  If a
   guest logs on directly he may not be able to see everything
   on the disk.  Here too there are 3rd party products that
   do the job, but it would be nice if it were standard on
   all Macs.
   
5) FONTS

   The silly italics, bold face and other multiple Postscript
   fonts needs to be addressed.  There are some utilities like
   Type Reunion that get around this problem with expanded
   menus.  If ATM is going to be part of the system then some
   mechanisms need to deal with this problem.
   
6) MODAL DIALOGS

   Yes Inside Mac says don't have Modal Dialogs unless you 
   have a command that needs done immediately.  Unfortunately
   most publishers seem to ignore that rule.  Microsoft is
   of course the biggest offender, but your own open file
   dialog box is just as bad.  Why must I have a modal window
   to open files?  Am I not just sending an 'open' apple
   even to the program?  Under the finder I can send open
   even after open event.  Why not in the open dialog box?
   There needs to be more pressure put on companies to
   get rid of modal dialog boxes as well.
   
7) STANDARD DICTIONARIES

   I can understand why some companies would want to have a
   custom dictionary that is optomized for their product. 
   There should be a standard interface to user dictionaries
   though.  A standard dictionary should also be available
   to those programs which do not wish to spend all the 
   trouble of writing a dictionary manager. (ie. simple
   text editors) A dictionary manager is part of Sys 7.1,
   but I know of no programs that use it.
   
8) MULTI-PROCESSING

   The technology is now coming into place where PC's will
   have multiple CPU's in the system.  It would make sense
   to expand the system so that multiple programs can
   run simultaneously.  Right now the only solution is the
   Radius Serve which basically has full multiple systems
   running.  It would make more sense to have the foreground
   task run on one CPU and background tasks on an other.
   Standard libraries for DSP (for math, Quicktime, and 
   perhaps Quickdraw and compressions) would be nice also.

   If Apple came out with the technology combined with 
   PowerPC cards for the Mac then thre would be a strong
   reason to plug the cards into current Macs.  The old
   CPU would still get used.  Those places that need
   powerful computing could just plug three PowerPC cards
   into their system and have extreme power.  To really
   take advantage of the multi-CPU system some type of
   multi-threading would also be needed.  This would
   allow one program to create several tasks running on
   multiple CPUs.  Thus a race tracing program could
   split the task up to 4 processors.  Right now this
   can be done via apple-events and multiple copies of
   the program being run on different Macs.
   
9) STANDARD WORD-PROCESSING FILE

   Some type of standard word-processing file needs to be
   created.  It should be expandable like the PICT-II 
   format is for graphics, but be readable by any word-
   processing package.  Right now files tend to be in
   MS-WORD format or MacWrite format.  A standard would
   be very nice.  Standards for graphics spreadsheets and
   other such applications would also be nice.
   
10) DOCUMENT BASED COMPUTING

   This final item really couldn't be done under the MacOS.
   It may be done under some other OS.  Here the basic
   element of work is not the application, but rather the
   document.  You could have paper documents ala page-
   layout and word processing.  You could have cards,
   spreadsheets and lists.  There would be different
   tools to apply to the document.  A text tool would 
   have many word-processing functions.  A graph tool
   would do graphs.  A math tool could do equations,
   spreadsheet function and other such functions.  A paint
   tool would draw pictures.
   
   A movement towards this was brought by MS-Word (very
   poorly though)  Here you have one main application
   dealing with the basic structure and external tools
   controled via OLE to do graphing, painting, and equations.
   Having this expanded and put down on the OS layer or
   Finder layer would be a fantastic improvement in
   computing.
   
Clark Goble
theory.byu.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy