Re: Apple Binaries dissed!

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

Joe Kohn (joko@crl.com) wrote:
: It's not worth getting upset about. Chances are the guy had an Apple II
: way-back-when, but he could never figure out what "Insert Pathname of Next
: Application" meant, so he sold the IIe and bought a high priced Mac or PC.

ENTER PREFIX <RETURN TO ACCEPT>:

ENTER PATHNAME OF NEXT APPLICATION:

It's got to be one of the WORST exits I have ever seen on any platform. 
What the heck am I supposed to type if I want to go to Apple Writer ][e
(DOS version)?  Okay, so I can always do an Apple-RESET.  Or what if I
have no idea what prefixes are even available, let alone what the
executable filename is!  For instance, if the "next application" happens
to be Appleworks, thanks to ProDOS filenaming rules, I can't even be
intuitive and enter "APPLEWORKS" and "APPLEWORKS.SYSTEM".  I have to
remember which characters were dropped from the filename to make it legal
(it's APLWORKS.SYSTEM, in case you've forgotten).  As a result, if I am
going to a ProDOS application, I end up just using PRODOS as the next
application, which defeats the purpose of using BYE to begin with on a
floppy-based system.

I'm so glad I started in DOS 3.3 (where QUIT is often not even an
option...and if it is, either the system re-boots or you get dumped to an
Applesoft prompt).  Much less frustrating to deal with.

I'm just glad the software folks finally went back to giving us the slot
and drive option for most "enter pathname" applications!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.  (going off on a tangent)
-- 
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