Matthew Allen wrote:
Ok yeah I guess my semantics were wrong :)! Is there
a way to
make other programs play nice?
I don't think you can...
I do not believe that user types like me can make any Linux application
do anything that it's not designed to do. It's no different than a
Windows app to me. This is one of the interesting thing about being a
user in the Linux world. In some ways it's worse than the Windows world.
In Linux, since you know it's open source, the opportunity to change the
code is so tantalizingly close that it becomes far more frustrating when
things don't work the way you want or need them too. You keep feeling
you can reach out and make it better, but the truth is that users
cannot. Only programers can.
In the Windows world you have no personal power beyond where you spend
your money. you cannot change the way any commercial program works.
However, taking your money is a very strong aphrodisiac for businessmen
running companies, so they try to find inventive ways to take your
money, and you try to find things that are worth your money. In general,
if the free market system is working, some company will do a good job,
will provide the right value for the right price and you get a tool that
does what you need it to do. You have no power, but you can get things
done with the tool you spent your money on.
It's my opinion that some people who program probably don't appreciate
how hard all of this is for people who don't program. Ever heard some
Linux guy say 'Use the code Luke'. Did you ever wonder what that sounds
like to someone who can barely use vi. I'm a second class citizen in
both worlds - in Windows because I have no power, and in Linux because I
have no ability. It's tough to be both dumb and poor... ;-)
Off to get a pint,
Mark