Peter Popov <pet### [at] vipbg> wrote:
> On Wed, 17 Mar 2004 12:11:02 +0100, "Thorsten Froehlich"
><tho### [at] trfde> wrote:
>
>>Photoshop never featured a root window on the operating system it was
>>orginally designed for.
>
> I believe it was not the case back when I used it on MacOS 7
> (PhotoShop 2.5.1 and 3.0). I am aware of the fact this is so on MacOS
> X but you have to agree, if you have ever used the GIMP, that the
> difference in useability and workflow is vast. Of course one should
> solely attribute it to lacking a root window because Adobe shows how
> it can be done well. But on MacOS X it actually makes sense. In KDE,
> it does not (nor in Windows).

That's because KDE tries its hardest to be Windows. Thankfully, there are
plenty of window managers for X that don't, and the authors of the Gimp
recognize this. Besides, you *can* use hacks such as xnest to get the
behavior you want, which is pretty cool when you think about it. Even
better, I understand that Gimp 2.0 features dockable windows, which allow
you to get whatever behavior you want.

>>Of course, Microsoft has long abandoned this nonsense for most
>>of their applications...
>
> Really? Can you please point examples?

The "bunch of windows in a single window" paradigm is called Multiple
Document Interface (MDI), and I'll confess that I hate it. I've been hearing
a lot lately about Microsoft urging developers to move away from it, but
aside from the lack of MDI in newer versions of Word, I haven't found much
proof to back this up. It could be wishful thinking on the part of User
Interface advocates, but I doubt MS would publicize their change of heart
after convincing everybody to start using it.

-Eamon

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