Re: list o' importants

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

In message <359A62EF.E10CD904@iname.com>, pete_st_onge@iname.com writes:
>> * running servers (mail, httpd, samba, telnetd, ftpd, etc)
>suggest rewording like: 'Able to run servers for email, web pages, file
>access, telnet, file transfer,' etc., as I would presume that many of
>the folks we're trying to reach don't understand the meaning of the
>abbreviations, let alone the relevence of the 'd' suffix.

Agreed. Let's make these separate questions, so we know who cares about
which? I suspect the majority will want ftpd but not much else. Will
they understand that if they don't get a server for email, somebody else
has to deal with it? Is this ok?

>> * being able to run something like doublespace (dynamic disk compressor)
>Suggest change like 'able to run disk compression program', because
>what some folks know as doublespace (aka 'File Damager'), others know
>as Stacker or DriveSpace. Others just use the NTFS :-)
>
>> * being able to taskswitch between applications quickly
>Suggest: 'being able to switch between running applications easily
>(multi-tasking)'
>True, this isn't a proper definition of multi-tasking...

My stress there was actually on *quickly*. Even if the OS implements
multitasking by that definition, and even if it's a couple intuitive
keystrokes or mouseclicks or whatever, if it thinks for a couple
seconds before giving you the application you wanted, that is poor.

>> * automatic virus protection (the system takes care of it for you)
>> * manual virus protection (you run a program to scan or detect)
>     Good idea. Seems to me though that both of these can coexist on
>the same machine - after all, the autoprotect is usually a memory
>resident scanner where as the manual is a file checker.

We should probably make it clearer that this is the division, then.

--Roger