[openbeos] Re: "OpenSoftwareValet"
- From: Mathew Hounsell <mat.geek@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 21:16:44 -0800 (PST)
> The problem I'm seeing here is that quite often apps misbehave, go wrong,
try and take over your system, etc. Like Realplayer 8 under Windows - which
is absolutely evil - the thing puts crap everywhere. It's really the same
problem which LewisB pointed out when he said something along the lines of
>> "The one potential problem would be developers [who] assume their
Application is SOOO usefuly they set [..] their apps show up in every
category."
> From a more generalised perspective, I'm asking the question; how can an
OS protect it's user from applications that [s]he wants to run?
Save Us, Please Save Us ! <Insert Pained Cry of The Masses>
Honestly, I would love to see a well managed OS safe from the evils of
self-centered applications.
This is where my idea for a data-space began.
Before BeOS PE5 was released I could not find, nor afford BeOS. I was using
Windows mainly and had experimentated with OS/2 and was experimenting with
Linux.
I hate the way windows applications drop there folder into the program menu.
It ends up cluttered and confusing. There are very few applications you use
often enough to justify such importance, and these should probablely be
listed under recently used. Linux was worse.
I though most applications have a subset of these common attributes:
Name, Description, Primary Catergories, Secondary Categories,
Author, Primary File Types, File Types Handled etc
eg Civ III, Game, Empire Building, Fraxis, *.sav
I wanted the programs menu to organise the programs by category then sub
category.
In BeOS this can be done by adding attributes to the executable and making
the BeMenu folder a live query.
The second problem I encountered was programs hijacking file associations. I
had spent some considerable time creating a set of file associations for the
language I was using the most. I installed a new editor to try it and it
hijacked my associations; luckily it didn't destroy them.
These same problems apply in BeOS. An application should be able to register
its attributes and then the shell will update to show the program.
Perhaps, also to simplify tracker, this might be abstracted to a shell
server.
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