Re: Aero and Aqua

"Snit" <SNIT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:C21574B0.7A603%SNIT@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Dan Johnson" <danieljohnson@xxxxxxxxxxxx> stated in post
12uvssth0clbl43@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on 3/8/07 4:29 AM:
But they didn't copy *everything*. :D

Then, it seems, at least in general principle we agree. I think they copied
some... but certainly not everything.

I do like the new aqua-ish bubble they put around the Windows logo... that
is funny. :)

*twitch*

*twitch*

[snip]
They also rip off some from Linux... and, amazingly enough, do some things
their own way. Office 2007 with its ribbon seems pretty innovative to me.
Sure, there are parts that it "borrowed" from others, but the "whole
package" (of the UI) is, as far as I know, unique.

There does seem to be an Idea behind the UI changes:
MS has decided the menu bars are Bad, and Must Die.

However, each application has replaced the menubar
with a *different* thing. It will, I think, be some time
before MS settles down on a consistent UI in this
area.

[snip]
Sauce for the goose and all..

If that was part of larger pattern of renaming... maybe.

Ah, I fear I see no such pattern.

[snip]
Apple *does* "borrow" from MS as well... look at contextual menus... arrows
for aliases (shortcuts), etc.

Ya, I remember when aliases had italic names.

[snip]
By 10.4.2 it's security model at least worked, but it was still
less robust than Active-X, since it did not use certificates.

So far the need has not been shown to exist.

It does not seem to exist. And frankly, being more like
Active-X is probably not something Apple should
asptire to anyway. :D

[snip]
AppleScript is a problematic design which worked around the limitations of
System 7, but remains slow and overly complex because of it to this day.

It is slow... but it serves a specific purpose... easier programming for
non-programmers and working with multiple programs.

It does serve that purpose, but it was originally meant to do more:
it was supposed to permit working with multiple scripting
languages (ie, not just AppleScript) as well. But the semantics
of AppleScript are so deeply baked into the machinery that
there's no point in doing that.

OLE Automation is pretty much better across the board;
it even supports multiple scripting languages.

Automator didn't need to depend on it like it does. It actually has a
rudimentary Objective-C interface that doesn't use AppleScript, but it's,
well, half-baked.

In what way? You keep saying it is "half baked" but I do not see how...
though I do see room for improvement.

Automator ships with a way to create Objective-C actions,
which remove AppleScript from the equasion; the UI
panel you get configures an Objective-C object, and it
does the work. Much simpler than AppleScript, and much
more capable.

Excel this mechanism was not really finished; Automator has
a whole type system, but it's not exposed to Objective-C,
so you can't really create a first class action that way.

It's such a shame.

[snip]
No, no, those are bundles. Packages are .pkg files, the Apple equivalent to
.msi installer files, more or less. The thing that gives you the installation
wizard.

Those generally work well... some even have uninstallers if they are needed.

Apple's package system does not produce uninstallers; if you
want them, you have to do it yourself.

That's not true of .MSI, or really any other system that
I know of.

It also does not let you customize the installer UI very
much. It's a very useful place to do initial configuration
when installing a program, but you can't do much with
Apple's system.

[snip]

.

Relevant Pages

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