Gregory Pittman wrote: > > John Brown wrote: >> It's not really a "Linux feature". On Windows, at any rate, you can run any >> number of instances of an app at the same time. If the developer wants to >> prevent multiple instances, he must take special measures. >> > Well, yes this is a Linux feature. Prior to Linux, the standard desktop > computer behavior was to not allow one to start up a program already > running. If Windows or Macs or whatever behave this way now, it's an > adoption of this Linux behavior, not something they invented.
If you say so, but I would regularly open two instances of Notepad or Write so that I could copy and paste between 2 files, starting with Windows 3.1 in 1993. I remember also being slightly annoyed whenever I ran a program that only allowed one instance at a time (I can't think of any right now, they were very rare). In those days, they would have been copying the Mac, if copying is the right word, as I don't consider running multiple instances of a program to be a feature. >> I don't think that it is too much to ask that you at least get a warning that >> the file is already open. Vi gives such a warning. >> > I note that emacs also does this, but it's not universal. Kedit doesn't > complain at all. Which is "right"? > The "right" one is the one that takes a small step to avoid what could be a big problem. It's just a word to the wise. Nobody is trying to prevent you from editing the same file twice if that is what you really want to do. > And why/how would someone have two versions of Scribus running with the > same file? Presumably they would know why they were doing that, and take > responsibility for various things that might happen. > Anyone can make a mistake. You might open a number of files at the same time, so that you can copy and paste. You double-click on files in your file manager one after the other. By the time that you get to 3 or 4, especially if the files are not in the same directory, you might forget that you already opened a file. The files that you are working on may be similar (different versions of your masterpiece in progress) so that the fact that it looks familiar does not give you a clue that it is actually the identical one. _________________________________________________________________ Make i'm yours.? Create a custom banner to support your cause. http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Contribute/Default.aspx?source=TXT_TAGHM_MSN_Make_IM_Yours
