Re: RFC: a project idea

["Brandon S. Allbery" <allbery ece cmu edu>]

In message <NDBBLPKCFNJGBCPPMPJPEEIOCAAA.anthony.clark@adv.sonybpe.com>, "Antho
ny Clark" writes:
+-----
| > Ummm, it's been done:  OS/2 has "work area" folders.
| 
| That's pretty much it.  Did anyone really use it?
+--->8

Like anything that isn't the "dominant paradigm" (ugh), some people love it
and some hate it.  I found it a nice idea, but OS/2's implementation seemed a 
bit clunky.

In any case, my main point in mentioning it was that it's conceptually quite
simple (although requires file manager tie-ins on top of the existing window
manager vs. session manager flamewar :-) without the need for the kind of AI
stuff you were proposing.

| I know zero about os/2, but how did this work when
| moving between PCs?
+--->8

Probably not well, since last time I checked the necessary information lived
in each machine's OS2.INI instead of as EAs on the folder.  OTOH any GNOME
equivalent would presumably use Gnome's metadata, which hopefully is more
network-friendly.

| AFAIK You can't do the same thing in Gnome though...
+--->8

Could be added, probably with some pain on Miguel's part :-)

A Gnome/X11 implementation would probably be based on defining
"sub-sessions" in the session manager, then using Gnome metadata to attach
those sub-sessions to folders.  The file manager would then interact with the
session manager when the sub-session's folder is manipulated.  This probably
would require session manager extensions to support sub-sessions, in
particular the ability to "suspend" (save state and exit), and "resume"
(re-open session with saved state) sub-sessions as a group and to track them
*as a group* within a full X session.  (The minimize/restore behavior is
window manager stuff, as ICCCM currently works.  But see previously posted
ICCCM rant.)

-- 
brandon s. allbery	[os/2][linux][solaris][japh]	 allbery@kf8nh.apk.net
system administrator	     [WAY too many hats]	   allbery@ece.cmu.edu
electrical and computer engineering					 KF8NH
carnegie mellon university	      ["God, root, what is difference?" -Pitr]