Re: Merging "Proxy" and "Network" applets

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On 8 Sep 2006, at 12:12, Pierre Mazoyer wrote:
> The approach you describe is the one used by Mac OS X.
> The administrator can define "locations" for which he enables and  
> sets up the interfaces he wants. Interfaces can be sorted by  
> "priority" (indicating the default route). The administrator can  
> configure as well proxies per interface. Some network settings are  
> only available to administrators, but some other settings are  
> customizable by normal users (a "lock" icon on the Network control  
> panel permits authenticating as an administrator).
> Any normal user can then select a location in the Apple > Network  
> settings submenu and Mac OS X automatically manages and configures  
> interfaces when they become available (switching from one to the  
> other using the priority setting).
>
> I believe this is an powerful and user-friendly approach.

It's not nearly as powerful and useful as the location stuff was in  
MacOS pre-X, however, where you could set preferences for all sorts  
of applications (e.g. default mail account) and system-level stuff  
(e.g. default printer) based on your Location.  That's where I'd  
really like to see GNOME heading with its notion of Locations, rather  
than just tying it into network settings.

Cheeri,
Calum.

--
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            Java Desktop System Team
http://blogs.sun.com/calum             +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems