Re: RTFM (was: CPYF behavior)

["L. S. Russell" <leslier@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hans, are you actually using X up there or are you stuck in M$?
If you are using X what window manager are you using, just out of
curiosity.
KDE, seems to be very stable and I think will make the change from
Micro$oft to linux very easy for those used to Win9x because of the
familiar look and feel of the desktop.

boldt@ca.ibm.com wrote:
> 
> Don wrote:
> >Pardon my ignorance, but how does this differ from having all open
> >applications "maximized" and using the ALT-TAB key sequence to switch
> >between them?
> >
> >I can't say I'm overly enamored of Windows, but it does provide the
> ability
> >to open as many copies of your softcopy manuals as you want and switch
> >between them at will.  I can't say I see much difference between this and
> >having multiple printed books open on my desk.  Except, of course, the
> >printed books take up gobs of space.
> 
> It's hard to visualize the usefulness of multiple virtual
> desktops in X without actually trying it.  Here's a more
> substantial example from my own experience:  I've played
> with a Java application involving a number of packages.
> In each of 3 or 4 virtual windows, I've had a folder view
> of the files in the package, several editors opened to
> source files in that package, and a command line session.
> In yet another virtual window, I've had at least two
> browsers open to the Java on-line documentation.  I can
> switch between different packages or to the docs by
> clicking on buttons at the bottom of the screen.
> 
> Another scenario:  I can have web browsing and e-mail on
> one session, web page maintenance on another, web image
> editing on a third, and some games on a fourth (to
> occupy me while waiting on a large download).  Each
> session has multiple related apps open and I don't have
> to clutter up one session or minimize windows to work
> effectively.
> 
> The difference is that you can organize your work more
> effectively.  Each virtual desktop can contains a set of
> related things.  On the other hand, the MS-Windows
> approach seems designed to minimize the number of open
> windows.  OS/2 and X are better in that one mouse button
> click will bring up a list of open applications.  With
> MS-Windows, you have this silly task bar at the bottom.
> With more than a few apps, the text is truncated so much,
> you really don't know which app is which.  (Since I've
> heard so much about the instability of Win95 with
> multiple apps open, I'm sure this was a conscious design
> decision to try to encourage users to keep the number of
> open apps down.  Unfortunately, although WNT is much more
> stable, its users are now stuck with this horrid design
> too!)
> 
> Another advantage of multiple virtual desktops is that
> now desktop icons become useful again!  The big problem
> with desktop icons is that when you have lots of windows
> open, they get obscured very quickly.  On X, you switch
> to an unused virtual desktop, and all the desktop icons
> are usable again!
> 
> Cheers!  Hans
> 
> Hans Boldt, ILE RPG Development, IBM Toronto Lab, boldt@ca.ibm.com
> 
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--
L. S. Russell Programmer/Analyst
Datrek Professional Bags, Inc.
2413 Industrial Drive
Springfield, TN. 37172
mailto:leslier@datrek.com
http://www.datrek.com
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