Battling Windmills

[Rob Cozens]

Hi All,

I have better things to do with my time; but ever since I read the 
Macworld review of Revolution I've been doing a slow burn, and I 
guess the only way to get past it is to rant to you.  Please feel 
free to erase this message and move on.

Stephen Somogyi writes "But Revolution's multi-platform support has 
an Achilles' heel: the program's interface doesn't quite adhere to OS 
X's conventions.  Revolution's Quit and Preferences options, for 
example, aren't under its application menu; they're under the File 
menu, as in the classic Mac OS."

So let me understand this, Mr. Somogyi.  Prior to OSX it was your 
position that all applications must have Quit & Preferences in a File 
menu; but because Apple did it differently in OSX, now any app with 
Quit & Preferences in the File menu is flawed?

Is it just me, or is this garbage just one more example of the focus 
on form instead of substance (read that lack of depth of research) 
that is typical of software reviewers?

And whether it is or not, I'll use a big flashing stop-sign-shaped 
Quit button and no File menu if it suits the purpose of my 
application.  If Mr. Somogyi and other "interface police" want to 
focus on that instead of the substance of my application, I'll move 
my focus to Windows...now that I can.

Why is it that so many revolutions disintegrate into dictatorships 
over time?  Apple gave its users the HyperCard hammer to destroy Big 
Brother, then took the hammer away, and now hammers us to do it their 
way.  Perhaps it's time to reread Animal Farm and vow to keep the 
pigs from destroying the promise of our Revolution?
-- 

Rob Cozens
CCW, Serendipity Software Company
http://www.oenolog.com/who.htm

"And I, which was two fooles, do so grow three;
Who are a little wise, the best fooles bee."

from "The Triple Foole" by John Donne (1572-1631)