On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:06 PM, James G. Sack (jim) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Brad Beyenhof wrote:
>  > On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 9:03 AM, Carl Lowenstein
>  > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>  >>  Just for my own edification, is "Spaces" a MAC OS-X application?
>  >
>  > Yes; it's a virtual-desktop implementation new in OS X 10.5.
>  >
>  >>  If so, it seems a bit off-topic for KPLUG, but lots of other things
>  >>  have been more wildly off-topic.
>  >
>  > Well, we're at least *comparing* it to how GNOME's Workspaces feature... :)
>
>  I wouldn't mind hearing more of that, keeping in mind that you have to
>  be talking to me, rather than to one who is familiar with the OS X
>  environment.

Well, than I'll reverse what I said before. In Linux, you have a lot
of control over which applications (and which windows) appear on which
virtual desktops. The default is for newly-created windows to appear
on the current desktop, regardless of the number and kind of windows
that already exist elsewhere. It's very flexible, and it allows you to
create desktops that focus on various *tasks*. If a particular app
(for instance, a Web browser) has separate windows containing
information for multiple tasks, it's simple to just have the various
browser windows open on different virtual desktops.

In contrast, Spaces on OS X is all about segregating *applications*.
In the preferences, you can tell certain applications to always open
their windows on a particular Space, but it doesn't get more
finely-grained than that (like the Devil's Pie filters on window
title, etc.). In addition, if an application is running, its new
windows are always created on the Space it's already occupying. So, if
your browser is open on Space 2 and you click a link in Space 4, you
have to travel over to Space 2 in order to see the page rendered.
Sure, you can move the different windows to separate Spaces after
they're created, but new windows are always grouped together. This is
a major pain, and it's why I haven't found any real use for the
feature on my Macs.

-- 
Brad Beyenhof                                   http://augmentedfourth.com
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry
about the answers.
                                         ~ Thomas Pynchon, writer (1937- )


-- 
[email protected]
http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list

Reply via email to