🚀 go-pugleaf

> What happens on the Mac II when a task wants 8 bit 
> planes --- Does the whole desktop change into 8-bit plane mode?  

Things kind happen the other way around on the Mac II.  The user sets
the number of bits on the screen, and the applications adjust
themselves.  Color Quickdraw is set up to handle this by making the
display less accurate (if you want a certain color, but there aren't
any more colors available, you get the closest existing one).

You're right; some mechanism is always needed for dealing with the
window clutter.  I imagine the Mac solution will be a "Set Aside"
operation that packs up a running application into an icon on the
desktop.  This was part of the Lisa interface, and since Macs are
slowly turning into Lisas (multitasking, menu-bar switching,
stationery documents, etc.), it would make sense.

- Walt
--
       Walter Smith, CS graduate student, Carnegie-Mellon University
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