[WinMac] Re: Virtual PC and dde

Belinda J. Wagner Ph.D.(bwagner[at]wfubmc.edu)
Sat, 12 Sep 98 13:59:27 -0500

> If you are thinking about trying to communicate BETWEEN the MacOS
>and the Virtual PC - you're out of luck. There is no "bridge" between the
>two, sorry.
-------------
On 9/10/98 7:00 PM, Jeff T <thorstadj@macconnect.com> wrote:

>If you give both computers (Mac and VPC) their own IP number, you should
>be able to communicate as if they were different computers. You can't
>communicate internally, but externally through your network should work.

That's a great suggestion for transferring the files, but drag and drop
might be simpler.

I believe the original comment was referring to attempting dde between a
Mac file and a PC app. I agree. Dde won't happen because the Mac platform
lacks the appropriate drivers. Neither Apple, Microsoft, nor any
third-party vendor I've spoken with is developing them. Virtually same
story with ODBC drivers.

IMHO, the lack of dde and ODBC capability between Macs and Windows is a
serious hurdle to Macs being used extensively in database- and/
middleware-intensive enterprise applications. Dde and ODBC make it so
simple to enter data and receive reports via front-end apps like Access,
Excel and Word and allow back-end products like SQL server, Oracle, and
SAS handle the actual data crunching.

Sure, I can achieve similar results on a Mac, but it requires ALOT more
programming. The Windows platform is far simpler. Plus, the ease of
Visual Basic makes it a snap to generate extremely user-friendly apps to
construct and submit user queries.

I am a diehard Mac enthusiast. It was hard for me to switch to the WinNT
platform for these tasks (I still want to be on my Powerbook -- hence the
VPC purchase). I've taken much heat from Mac users for my statements.
Bottom line: no one has come up with a Mac solution that's simpler. That
ball is firmly in Steve Jobs' court. So far, it's just rolling around on
the "tarMac."

Belinda J. Wagner, Ph.D. voice: (336) 716-2992
Research Assistant Professor fax: (336) 716-6642
Department of Plastic Surgery
Wake Forest Univ. School of Medicine email: bwagner@wfubmc.edu
Medical Center Blvd.
Winston-Salem, NC 27157

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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b2 on Sat Sep 12 1998 - 10:57:38 PDT