Path: utzoo!dciem!nrcaer!scs!spl1!laidbak!att!pacbell!ames!amdahl!nsc!voder!apple!rekieta
From: rekieta@Apple.COM (Paul Rekieta)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Anybody using MacWorkStation?
Message-ID: <11453@apple.Apple.Com>
Date: 2 Jun 88 00:43:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: apple.11453
References: <21441@think.UUCP>
Reply-To: rekieta@apple.UUCP (Paul Rekieta, MWS Developer)
Organization: Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 40

In article <21441@think.UUCP> ephraim@think.com (ephraim vishniac) writes:
>
> (Stuff about MacWorkStation)
>of work).  So my question is, how good is MWS?  I'd like to hear the
>good and the bad from anybody who's worked with it.
>
	MWS is being used by many internal MIS development teams.
Some, such as CITIBANK in New York, have been written up
in the Mac weeklies. Others are using it for internal projects. A
particullarly interesting application at a "major northern university"
is a campus wide mail and directory system, as well as a campus map
which shows the building the professor is in.

>I'm especially interested in how well it can handle a situation such
>as the following:
>
> (Description of an information retrieval system)
>
>Will MWS allow us to carry on this kind of background activity?  Does
>it use error-detecting/correcting protocols?  Does it allow
>transmission of binary data or are you restricted by the underlying
>network?  What's the performance like on bulk data transfer?
>
	MWS is perfect for the type of application you describe.
You would first create a list window with the article titles. Then you
can begin creating invisible windows (for your pre-fetched articles)
and send text to those windows in 512 byte messages.
User events will be sent as they occur.  Your remote program must be
prepared to accept a limited number of user events.

MWS itself is protocol independent. We do not yet offer an error-free 
protocol, but expect to soon. Binary transmission is protocol dependent
but again could be implemented in a custom communications module.

>Also, short of buying the whole package, is any technical
>documentation available that might answer questions such as the above?
>

Documentation may be available from APDA soon, contact Apple Software
Licensing for more information.