Michael Gratton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
[EMAIL PROTECTED]">news:[EMAIL PROTECTED], on 25 Sep 2001:
> In any case, the real hassle with the using filename extensions is
> the fact they are mutable - and hence liable to break. The main
> reason no-one trusts what Window's thinks the type of a file is
> because it's so easy for it to get it wrong. Save a file with the
> wrong extension, download a file with the wrong extension, bring a
> file over from a Mac and bang! The nice GUI suddenly stops working.
> Someone with a clue might be able to fix it, but the point is that
> there shouldn't be a need to fix it, let alone the fact that
> neither Joe or Jane Average hould have a hope in hell of doing so,
> and so wouldn't be able to use the file they just
> created/downloaded/copied.
>
I disagree. If I download a file (as was pointed out earlier) like, I
dunno, Important Business Contract.doc but the server is misconfigured
and it sends it as "cgiOut.pl" or similar, it's a minor annoyance for
all but the very novice user. The person will download the file and
attempt to open it. Not recognizing the file's extension, Windows will
prompt:
Click the program you want to use to open cgiOut.pl
If the program is not in the list, click Other.
Now, if the person saved the file as cgiOut.pl and can find it again,
they already know the browser/server messed up and didn't save it as
whatever.doc. So they know what the file is. They just scroll down to
Winword.exe and click open and boom, done. You forget if the server has
a poorly written CGI script that misnames the file you are recieving,
the major problem is the person downloads it but can't find the file.
They just see this weird file CGIScript.pl or something. If they can
recognize that the file is the one that they are looking for, opening it
and renaming it is VERY simple.
--
ICQ: N/A (temporarily)
AIM: FlyersR1 9
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
_ = m
