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I hate MDI. But... it never occurred to me that Microsoft might screw up whatever little value MDI has... until now... > Don't get me started. Here's a nice example of Windows applications in > action: > http://www.jshift.com/services/design/horrors/taskbar_abuse.asp To me, each thing in the task bar is a *document*. I hate MDI. I hate the whole "single-instance" nature of Windows. Windows is so relentlessly 'there is a single instance of an application, a single instance of a user' that they had to invent a whole extra "session" layer that digs its filthy fingers deep into the OS to make each session act like a separate virtual machine to allow multiple user sessions. And then Jobs had to bloody well copy that on Mac OS X, when Mac OS X (being UNIX) already has a better way of dealing with multiple users. [remainder of subrant deleted to spare the Internet from my filthy language] I've seen that pseudo-MDI-ha-ha-fooled-you behaviour before. Acrobat Reader on UNIX does the same thing, without the courtesy of giving you a hint that closing the last window won't close the last window but turn it into an "empty MDI". I think that they're trying to emulate Apple's "close-isn't-exit" behaviour. But I had no idea how far Microsoft was willing to go in search of suck: Thank god I've never had to use access: "Unfortuntely, MS decided to treat each object as a document and give it its own slot in the taskbar." Jesus Harold Christ on a pogo stick. That picture has so much suckage I'm completely blown away. Whatever drugs those people were on when they created MULTIPLE taskbar slots for a single objects... Windows, Just Say No. But, anyway, MDI sucks. The only program I like using MDI in is Notes because I don't *care* about Notes: it's an obstacle, not a tool, so hiding it all off in a single window is great. Otherwise, MDI is just a way to make virtual desktops annoying so Microsoft has an excuse not to implement them. There's a useful subset to MDI: tabbed windows. That makes the "new window or new subwindow" choice mine, not the application's. http://www.jshift.com/services/design/honors/mdi_browsers.asp Oh god, I wish Opera did tabs rather than MDI.
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