🚀 go-pugleaf

I always hated the need for that feature.  Maybe the reason it's going away
is that Apple's rumored Finder interface improvements will make it
unneccessary.  Let's say I have a TEXT file from Consulair Edit, back for
the days of yore when I used Consulair C.  If I double-click on it, then
there are two possibilities: it will open the Consulair editor program,
which I hope never to see again as long as I live; or it will not be able to
find the Consulair editor and will not do anything except alert me.  In
fact, what I want it to do is open the MPW Shell on the file, but hey, the
creator longwords don't match.  Grr.

Applications ought to have a way of saying which file types they are capable
of opening, and the user should be able to specify a preferred application
for each file type.  Granted that this is expert-friendliness and Apple
often seems to labor under the delusion that expert friendliness is
incompatible with novice friendliness, but maybe they are finally figuring
out that the two can go together.

An even friendlier way of handling the same situation would be, if the
creator application can't be found, bring up a list of applications which
could be used for the file and let the user select as normal in the list
(including standard file type power keys).  If the list has only one entry,
then use it without asking.  A user preference could choose whether or not
to always use the creator application if there are other possibilities.

Dream on....
-- 
Tim Maroney, {ihnp4,sun,well,ptsfa,lll-crg}!hoptoad!tim; hoptoad!tim@lll-crg
"You say that this wasn't in your plan
 Don't mess around with the Demolition Man"