Re: Netscape 4.0 press release at their server

  From: "David Perrell" <davidp@earthlink.net>
| 
| Walter Ian Kaye wrote:
| > >and how does this facilitate interoperability with other systems?
| > 
| > Umm... it's standardized? You'll know that a file type of 'PNTG' is a
| > MacPaint file, regardless of what application created it. ...
| 
| Who'll know? An NT machine won't know. And I won't know by looking at
| the filename on an FTP site if it doesn't have an extension.
---

Sure it will - our UNIX machines know bunches of non-UNIX file types, so
we know what to do with them.  And FTP could as easily expose the
encoded type as it does the extension.  The advantage of having a
registry is that everybody *can* know what all the types are.

---
| I'm thankful "our industry (with the notable exception of Apple)" chose
| not to do typed files (and forking file systems). Every OPSYS with a
| central database of 'registered' file types? <shudder>
| 
| Kinda '1984'-ish.
---

Eh?  Most systems already have that kind of registry, at some levl (for
instance, for reognizing executables).  Plus you probably have at least
one and maybe more that you manage personally (or fail to manage), for
instance, server and browser tables mapping MIME types to applications
and file file extensions to MIME types.  Plus you have a layer of
ill-defined, unpredictable translations (like ".doc = FrameMaker") in
your head.

Frankly, I'd a lot rather have one registry that I can get a fresh copy
of periodically.

scott

--
scott preece
motorola/mcg urbana design center	1101 e. university, urbana, il   61801
phone:	217-384-8589			  fax:	217-384-8550
internet mail:	preece@urbana.mcd.mot.com

Received on Monday, 21 October 1996 09:53:00 UTC