At 04/24/2002 12:11 PM, Philip Aker wrote: >Please explain. I'm saying that in traditional MacOS, things are >referenced by symbolic constants from the current system. You >seem to be saying that M$ references them from a hard-wired >path. Seems to me to be different.
No. M$ does not reference them from a "hard-wired path" except that the resolution of the symbolic constants in the registry resolves to a specific path. Microsoft uses the symbolic constant %SystemRoot% to refer to the system directory. This is often "C:\Windows" but there is no requirement that it be there. In Win9x this did have to be a directory on the C: drive, but with NT (since its first release) and all the newer versions, it can reside on any drive. Can you install the MacOS to the third hard drive? >> In Windows, even Win95, there can be multiple settings for >> system file locations other than the ones for the OS itself, >> stored in user profiles. > >I don't think we're on the same page here. On Macintosh, there >are individual user settings when the system is configured for >multiple users. That's not what I've been trying to illustrate. No, no. Each OS installed on a windows system has profiles installed in the %SystemRoot% directory. Typically, there is only one profile on a single user machine. Multiple users has zilch to do with this whole topic. The "multiple settings" refers to the different directory structures that ordinary program files understand. The location of "My Documents" is just one of many "local" directory settings that are stored in the registry and are user modifiable. >>> This implies that whatever Control Panel one activates to >>> change a certain system default setting doesn't change the >>> settings of the system folder it currently "belongs" to. > >> I don't see how this changes anything whatsoever. > >That's what I mentioned previously about "thinking in Bill's >terms". This is probably the problem. What does "whatever Control Panel one activates" mean? On Windows there is only _one_ Control Panel per Installed OS. You cannot activate any "other" control panel. What is a Mac "Control Panel"? >I guess one would actually have to work with a MacOS for >a few years in order to perceive the difference. I have used a Mac extensively since it's origin in the Lisa (1982). For about 10 years. I even own one. But I have not used it in the last few years. >> The location of applications and documents ought to be a >> configurable choice. To *not* make it configurable is >> authoritarian, and that's so antithetical to everything Apple >> has ever professed to stand for that I can't believe that it >> would be so. > >There are two main notions being discussed. The default >installation location for software that does not offer the user >a choice, and the names and places of where one keeps one's >applications and documents. But the latter should be configurable, per application. >For the latter, it's any disk, any >folder, any reasonable name. But I thought the original problem was that some applications did not allow that? >> I suspect that things are different in OS X in terms of >> configurability. > >I've only done a bit of customization on X. There is the blend >of traditional MacOS and Unix that represents around 45-50 years >or so of OS traditions and development. That's a lot to be aware >of when considering the implications of moving this or that here >or there. However there are methods to create symbolic links >which will either augment or replace the individual users home >folder and swap files as well as shared Applications, Libraries, >Frameworks, etc. Fortunately, it's far easier in Windows to specify application, shared and data folders. Phil Daley < AutoDesk > http://www.conknet.com/~p_daley _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
