Re: [Algorithms] Can I do this?

[Jim O. <j.o...@in...>]

I am under the distinct impression that I suggested something really bad,
almost feeling sorry for making the suggestion. Some comments though:

> If you prompted "Do you want to close some applications?" and the user
> prompted yes which causes you to kill the 100mb download they've been
> downloading for the last day that's at 99.99%?

That is not what I wanted to do... I was actually thinking about mimicing a
Windows shutdown (which would also be the point where the user finds out
that that download is at 99.99% so that they'd better wait for few more
minutes before shutdown) to give all applications a chance to save etc. etc.

However, I think we've covered about every reason why that idea is bad
already... so on to a better idea then: Instead of mimicing the Windows
shutdown, I could simply compile a list of resource heavy applications and
display this in a list box, suggesting to the user that he'd (or she'd)
better close a few of these applications before continuing (and yes, it will
have the oh-so-precious Ignore button... I still remember certain games
which refused to install on a Win2K machine, since they weren't NT
compatible - grrr!). Oh, and maybe with one of those bars, which changes
color from red to orange to green as more and more resources are freed up
:-)

> Finally, it's not your problem (i.e., not a support issue) if they've
> decided to tie up the majority of system resources and thereby have
problems
> running your program.  Add a FAQ entry to your manual if it makes you feel
> better. :p

This is true in the general case, however, in the specific case of family
and or close friends, I somehow end up fixing things afterwards (perhaps I
am just to nice a guy and thus the only developer on the face of this planet
that ever ends up fixing the pc of relatives and friends, in which case
there never was a problem bigf enough to solve, let alone mention...).

Jim Offerman

Innovade
- designing the designer