Re: FILEMENU.PM [longish]

[Peregrine@xxxxxxxx]

Carl writes:
> The uses are virtually unlimited. To pull one example out of the
> air, you could instruct XyWrite to load a particular color scheme on
> startup, depending on known lighting conditions for a given computer
> at various times of day -- all with the same STARTUP.INT file.
> Since I'm finicky about the interaction between screen colors and
> ambient light, this is, in fact, what I do.

This suggests some very interesting possibilities for me, and makes me wonder
about the management of future applications when -- as must, should or could
happen -- XyWrite is reincarnated for use in all places where real writers
write and real editors edit.

Assigning different parameters to different workgroups or workstations within
a newsroom, for instance, so reporters would boot to specific working
directories and have customized quick access to various file resources for
research, etc. ... and copy editors would be hooked in to other resources and
other directories specific to their jobs ... and the folks who take
classified ads or obits or anything else would have their own little domains,
too. Your solution makes that a simple matter of changing the MACHINE.ID
parameters, Carl, and from the standpoint of systems management that is truly
elegant!

Mind you, I'm no luddite when I suggest a renaissance for XyWrite. Windows
and all other graphical user interfaces I've seen are just too slow for
efficient text processing. My own ideas flow too quickly to wait for that
slow and rather imprecise thesaurus included in MS Word, and I'm not the
fastest thinker on the block. So why commit so much memory and processing to
window dressing and bloatware, when the real work can be done infinitely
better by a lean program like XyWrite?

I know. Preaching to the choir.

Jeff Seager

p.s.
By the way, to anyone who's interested in trying it,
the latest version of FILEMENU.PM works flawlessly for me.
Thanks again, Carl.