Michael Rueger <m.rueger at acm.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> Lex Spoon wrote:
> 
> > Let's step back a moment.  This list of info is a really simplified view
> > of a person's Internet existence.  I use two different IRC servers, and
> > 2 POP servers.  I have 2 email addresses that I use with much frequency.
> >  I prefer to connect to USENET by running a command, but if that's not
> 
> OK, let's step even further ;-)
> 
> The *really* simplified version is that all we care about is to read the
> proxy settings out of the IE and the smtp host and email address out of
> the Outlook registry entries ;-)
> If someone is so sophisticated to actually use IRC, mail and whatnot
> from within Squeak, they should be able to configure it. And then we
> need a way to keep the settings in Squeak, I completely agree with that.
> 

Okay, this is what I need to hear.  If we can get it down to 3-4 things
that are really useful, then the implementation burden on Unix isn't
bad.  Reasonable settings can be found for all the things you mention.

However, right now there are things like IRC servers in the list you
posted earlier.  Which settings are the really important ones?  Also,
what's the most useful way to lie in each case?



Andreas Raab wrote:
> Yes it is. And for a very good reason. What we're looking at is not
> somebody like you but rather some school which will certainly sit behind
> a firewall and be configured _exactly_ in this simplified way.

Which schools are these?  Such people will frequently have both a school
email address and a home email address.  Also, not every school is as
authorotarian with their computers, and thus allows users to set up
their account in any reasonable way they like.

What's the plan when some school has a different simplified setup than
what Squeak expects?

Also, this configuration info is surely going to be used for something. 
What happens when a non-school person tries to use whatever that is?  Is
there a backup plan in case no simplified internet configuration is
available?

I don't see why Squeak shouldn't just have a manual configuration for
this stuff, instead of blindly believing the OS settings or trying to
dig into configuration info from other programs.  And if it has a manual
configuration, the simplest way is going to be to do it in Smalltalk,
not C.  Is it really any simpler to have some site-specific C code to
guess a person's settings, than to give each user their own image or
image segment with the right configuration already set up?



So in summary:

	1. Which settings are the important ones?

	2. What are they being used for?  This is important for knowing the
best way to lie when the truth doesn't fit into the simplified scheme.


Also, out of curiousity, in practice which of these settings to
Macintosh apps actually listen to?  How about MS Windows apps, with it's
internet configuration thingie?

-Lex