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Prosoft Releases Mac OS X Client for Netware

JSherman writes "Prosoft Engineering has released a client that enables Mac OS X to connect to a Novell network. The client is pure TCP/IP, and is not tied with AppleTalk. Its been possible for Macs to connect to Netware Servers for a long time by using Novell's Native File Access, but this is a much better method since it's an actual client that will remember your user ID and password when connecting to servers, and it allows you to browse the NDS tree. This is great news for all of us that use Apple computers in the Enterprise. Mac OS X progress marches on."

3 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. Re:How is this news? by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What's the point of automatic transmission when all I have to do for manual is press the clutch and shift gears?

    Some people don't have the time, patience, and/or skill to implement stuff like netware themselves in a convenient manner. What do you think about GUI wrappers for things that can be done in the CLI?

    If you don't see the use of this, you aren't looking beyond your world, IMO.

    --

    If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
  2. Re:How is this news? by Auckerman · · Score: 3, Insightful
    "Some people don't have the time, patience, and/or skill to implement stuff like netware themselves in a convenient manner."


    Then they should NOT be an admin. Lazy admins are the reason why many networks are insecure. This is not to be construed as an arguement against GUI's, which have their place, but merely an arguement that reading documentation to learn how to do something is what an admin is supposed to do.

    --

    Burn Hollywood Burn
  3. Re:It's dead, Jim. by MochaMan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now focus-follows-mouse for MacOS X, that would be something to shout about

    Not gonna happen. Not even possible, in fact. Why? Well the Mac Menu bar sits on the top of the screen, not under the title bar of each window. So moving the mouse from a window in one application to a window in another application would require the menu bar to switch to the other application's menu bar, otherwise the user is left with the uncomfortable (and not at all user-friendly) situation of having Application A's menu bar while working in Application B's window. But it gets worse. Assuming, for the above reasons, that the menu bar has to change when you mouse over another application's window, you're in for a nightmare if you use the menus (and why have menus if you aren't going to use them?). Every time you move the mouse to the menu bar, you have to move the mouse pointer out of the Application's window. And if you have any other windows open in the background from another application, your menu bar is going to magically change every time you move the mouse up to the menu bar, defeating the purpose and causing much swearing.

    You could do all sorts of hacks around this, like time-delayed menu-bar switching, but the fact is, the whole metaphor just doesn't work on a Mac. Focus follows mouse is also pretty confusing to most users, since their experience generally comes from either the Mac or Windows world, neither of which has focus follows mouse (actually, you can turn it on in Windows through a registry hack, same goes for tab-completion on the command line). The intended audience of this feature would be UNIX converts, but because of the menu bar deal, they'd be just as annoyed as Mac users. That's why I doubt we'll ever see this in the Mac OS, even as an option.

    Now, on my FreeBSD boxes I tend to use focus follows mouse with sloppy focus, and I like it, but it just doesn't work under the Mac OS metaphor, not that I mind.