> The problem with having windows looks at the file's header is that > someone would actually have to write their own routine to do such. > It's far easier, in any os, to use the default system of loading > files. IIRC, because the Amiga looks at a file's header, the > applications are easier to make do so too.
Apart from the fact that it's a really rather slow way of doing it. That, and also the fact that even if you name a file "A file for Jamie" Most Amiga apps wouldn't know whether it was a picture or a text file if it hit them on the head. How do you tell if a file is an IFF file from inside a DPaint requester, with a name like that? The trick is: you're all jumping around about a "graceful" feature of the Amiga that was actually a shareware afterthought, which took 8 years to get into the OS, and got ruined with an evil preferences GUI :) Next time you extoll the virtuous nature of the Amiga, I would go back to things you remember from when it was first released (1985, 1990, 1992 or so) and then realise you're comparing an obselete 20 year old box which did practically nothing, with the computers today which are 100x more powerful. There are plenty of things in Windows and X11 that are done to simplify the system - the way when you click a window, it pulls to the front, is a simplification of layers.library, since it is a lot of hassle to handle things that can be active AND behind things. Microsoft and the original pioneering GUI people decided it wasn't worth the feature to have all those race conditions and lockup bugs for 15 years. Both the GDI and X11 have enough of those as it is :) -- Matt Sealey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
