> I have to say I find it amusing that this "portable apps" > concept is being touted as "the next big thing". In days of > old, virtually all Mac system 7/8 apps were "portable" -- it > didn't matter from which location they were run. Then came > the push to follow the Windows lead of having assigned > locations for files that led to the designated > Application/Document/etc folders and users were expected to > follow the conventions. Now the pendulum swings back the > other way and "portable apps" are a "new idea".
Same thing happened with DOS in the early days. Most app's could be placed anywhere (we began coding IBM PC's with two floppy drives. One for the OS and one for the compiler and IDE). Then came languages like Clipper where you had to not only place it in the directory the developer indicated, but also modify config.sys and autoexec.bat in order to run the app's (Clipper was notorious for that). Windows 3.1x continued that tradition (of being anywhere on the drive - except moving it would break the installation of the program) until Win 9x. Win 9x forced directories to be in certain places. While you could install anywhere you could not move it once installed (at least not easily). MS declared that the registry was the place to write for configuration information - until Win 2K when they declared you should no longer write to the registry (as the registry became a huge bottleneck) but rather to the old Win 3.1x ini files. Microsoft are there own worst enemy. Scott _______________________________________________ use-revolution mailing list use-revolution@lists.runrev.com Please visit this url to subscribe, unsubscribe and manage your subscription preferences: http://lists.runrev.com/mailman/listinfo/use-revolution