Everybody makes good points, but in general they reflect looking at only one part of the issue. Yes IE should be able to set Internet Config prefs, but it should not lock the file except for the few milliseconds it takes to read or write the data. Yes Entourage should use the global Internet Config prefs, but it should not lock the file except for the few milliseconds it takes to read or write the data. And the same goes for all other apps that interact with the global prefs.
Whether application unique preferences such as Autofill, etc. should be stored in the global Internet Config prefs file is more a matter of choice. That is as long as other applications are not locked out of writing to the file as necessary. Yes it is cleaner to have global prefs in a central location and application unique prefs in a unique location, but there could also be architecture or performance considerations that indicate otherwise. This is a Microsoft problem since both applications talked about here belong to them. Everybody knows that this is the same problem with Office and Entourage identities that cannot be changed while another Office application is open. If identities is really a global item, shouldn't you be able to switch identities while in the other applications? I know this is a real architecture issue that was not thought about in the beginning. It is time for Microsoft to come to the forefront on how applications share data. IMHO, on a single user system like a Mac normally is, letting the last application win (on a data element by data element -- not file basis) rather than letting the first application lock out the others is better. My two cents worth, Jim > From: Paul Berkowitz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: "Entourage:mac Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 20:18:44 -0800 > To: "Entourage:mac Talk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: Address autofill > > On 3/27/02 8:11 PM, "Dan Frakes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> on 3/27/02 3:49 PM, Paul Berkowitz at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >>> It's IE's way of conforming to standards: since most prefs you want >>> to set in IE are really Internet Config prefs anyway, you can set hem >>> from either IE or Internet Control Panel (now System Prefs), and >>> they're the same prefs, instead of conflicting. this was the issue >>> (plus Autofill) that finally got me to drop Netscape: Netscape was >>> always overriding Internet prefs, but IE conformed. That's because >>> they're the same prefs. >> >> But there are times you want two apps to use different prefs. Having them >> all trying to control the same preference file is a bad idea, IMO. A better >> solution would be to let the user choose whether IE should save to the >> master prefs or to use its own (and, vice versa, whether to use the master >> prefs file or its own). Figuring out a good interface for such functionality >> might be tricky, but it's certainly doable. >> > > Set the usual prefs from Internet Prefs or IE; set your freaky prefs that > pertain only to your other browser (how many different browsers using > different prefs do you need?) in the other browser. This sounds pretty > farfetched, anyway. IE gives the normal user an easy way to set all the > prefs he/she expects to find in one place, instead of doing some in > Internet, some in IE, and honors prefs set in Internet, which is honest, > decent and consistent, I think it's a good system. > > -- > Paul Berkowitz > > > -- > To unsubscribe: > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > archives: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> > old-archive: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/> -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
