Re: Web-related IPC -- WAS: Re: Product Differentiation

Paul Prescod wrote:
> 
> At 03:22 AM 7/25/96 -0400, triangle man wrote:
> >Paul Prescod wrote:
> >> Global shared state is handled in Windows through the global Windows
> >> registry. Microsoft (or a sufficiently influential ISV) announces what
> >> registry keys to use and everyone uses them.
> >
> >He's talking about *preferences*
> 
> Preferences are global state. They are stored in the Windows registry.
> 
> >The point of an IC-like system would be to allow the user to specify
> >which particular app to use - and why a browser? what about
> >news, ftp, mail, gopher, wais, telnet? What if I want an ftp URL to
> >launch Netscape, but an http URL to launch IE?
> 
> That works on Windows 95, too.

Well, ok then! As long as we're sure that we're talking about the same thing.

> C:\>start news:comp.text.sgml
> 
> will launch my (Microsoft) newsreader.

Is this because you told it what app to use as your newsreader,
or because It Just Knows what apps can read news, and picks one...?
How would you change it to be a different newsreader - how would you
make it so that typing that line would launch your own newsreader?
(I know very little about Win95)

> WinExec( "news:comp.text.sgml" );

That's nice. Assuming that it works for others, too, like gopher, telnet,
etc. Developers should be taking advantage of this to hyperlink across
applications. Of course, this may scare Microsoft because it introduces
the possiblity that someone might actually use a non-MS product (gasp!)

> should do the same thing. This all depends, however, on you installing
> either Microsoft PLUS or Internet Explorer. Windows 95 doesn't have the
> latest MS Internet stuff in it.

Ah, the catch. Does it "all" depend on this? Is it Internet Explorer which
enables you to "C:\>start news:comp.text.sgml" ? Is it that IE/Plus comes with
extra Internet-enabling software that provides this service, which you can
then use with other apps as well..? Sounds like Microsoft to me! ;-)

-- 
=(Russell Holt)====-===-==-=-=--=---=---- --- -- - -  -   -    -    -
holtrf@destinyusa.com                 http://www.destinyusa.com/russ/
"hypertext web site.. hypertext web site.. am I interactive yet?" -Zippy

Received on Thursday, 25 July 1996 16:42:32 UTC