Boot This is an extremely simple, no frills program: it simply launches applications. POSSIBLE future versions MAY add some frills, like adding a document to open too, but so far this is all it is doing. The use of this function is that a lot of people have large hard disks, stuffed full of files and programs buried at various levels of folders and subfolders. Getting to the program directly can involve a lot of digging, opening a lot of folders (and Finder windows) along the way, or under System 7 loading up the Apple menu, or making a lot of aliases, or under any system, loading up the desktop with programs. Boot This! solves this, and lets you swiftly dig around in your disk for that program you have in some horribly logical place, but which you may not have actually had to find for some months. When you launch Boot This! you get a very typical file dialog box, which you can use like any such dialog to search about for that program. When you launch the program in question, Boot This! quietly and politely goes away. The only errors I have considered are 2: when the file dialog fails to give BT a valid reply, and when the program being launched is incapable of running. Under both cases, BT simply beeps and safely quits. (actually the second is handled by the system ) I have found no errors or incompatibilities, but I am also a very limited tester. If you find any problems, please let me know.
I am re-issuing Boot This! (formerly Launcher, but NOT to be confused with the similar "Launcher" by another author) because to my amazement I saw a similar program (called _Launch) floating around, which amazingly bombed badly on my Mac Plus running System 7. Perhaps there really is a market out there, and at least one competitor hasn't quite filled the need. The name change is simply due to the fact that I discovered that "Launcher" was a registered trademark, for a program with a similar function. So, Like Red Ryder and Compactor before me, I have changed the name before the lawyers call.
In addition to the simple use as a utility under the Finder, MultiFinder, or System 7, there is another use for BT! that used to be a very real market for Macs, and that is as a "Finder Replacement". Such programs used to be fairly common, back before High Density floppies and cheap hard disks, because the System and Finder took up the lion's share of 400k and 800k floppies. To use BT! as such a program, you have to give a few things up: full Finder functionality, MultiFinder, System7, and a reassuring way of shutting down are the main ones. The gain is that for some programs it is nice to have them on bootable floppies, and given the burgeoning size of applications, the savings of most of the disk space taken by a full finder can make a big difference. At 2k, BT! is an exceptionally tiny file, and can be used as a Finder Replacement simply by renaming it "Finder" and replacing the real Finder (PRE-SYSTEM 7 ONLY!) on the disk with it. This makes the disk boot directly to BT!, from which you can launch any other application. Quitting applications reboots BT!. Shutdown is accomplished very simply by ejecting the disk holding BT! and either turning off the Mac or pressing the front button on the "Programmer's Switch" if it is installed. I may in the future also make a small BT!-launchable program to do this automatically.
One very good use of BT! as a Finder replacement is for public-access Macs that are running pre-system 7 operating systems, and where public fiddling is a hazard. School labs, dealer demo machines, and the like are often at risk of the casual passerby with an attitude problem trashing, moving, or changing things that the system manager doesn't want fiddled with. Unlike the Finder, BT! offers no potential for malicious or inadvertant damage, only the option of launching other programs.
Because System 7 more closely integrates the Finder into the operating system, and uses it for some of the new features that can be accessed by other programs, and requires that multitasking is always present, BT! cannot be used as a Finder replacement under System 7, but it CAN be used as a program launcher, and works quite well.
Version History:
Version 1.0GO: released as "Launcher" mid-1989 in a very limited way in conjunction with another utility. Written and compiled with Turbo Pascal, totally unaltered from TP output, 9k in size. UGware concept: $1 for anyone who provided proof of Mac UG membership, $15 for others. No one registered. 5 people complained about the limited scope. No bug reports
Version 1.0:(still Launcher) released late-89 without redistribution restrictions, ne icon, slightly cleaned up source code, minor hand-tweaking of object code from TP output. 8.5k in size. UGware idea trashed. shareware fee $2. No registrations, 20 people contact me about the program, but none with real bugs. replies generally ask for more bells and whistles, and 2 indignant complaints that the program won't replace the Finder under MultiFinder, a fact noted in the docs.
(late 89-late 91: development abandoned because of simple burnout and disgust. )
Version 1.5: October 1991. Renamed Boot This! because "Launcher" is already used by another program. Source revamped, transfered to Think Pascal. No more hand coding necessary for size reductions, because now the compiler spits out only a 2k program. Docs rewritten with some clarifications, amplifications, and use suggestions. UGware idea returns. Free registrations for anyone providing proof of User Group membership, $2 to others. New versions automatically sent on disk with additional $2.
SHAREWARE, COPYRIGHTS, AND OTHER PHILOSOPHICAL MUTTERINGS
Boot This! is shareware. When you download it, I don't care how much it costs you in phone charges, online service connect charges, or whatever. I get none of that. If you use it for 30 days and want to keep it, you are ethically and legally bound to pay me for it. As the above indicates, I'm a tad cynical about shareware. I'm also very vindictive about theft. I will spend every dime I have to prosecute anyone I catch stealing this, even if all I can get is $2 in return. I doubt I'll ever have the chance to prove this, but just try me.
As stated above, registration is simple. I will accept three different things in return for registration:
(1) Proof of membership in a legitimate Apple-registered
Macintosh User's Group. If your UG meets regularly
and has a double-digit membership, it should be and
probably is registered.
(2) A check for $2.00 ($US, not Taiwanese or Ukrainian
or even Canadian dollars) made out to William K.
Stewart-Cole (that's me)
(3) Reciprocal registration and copy of your own
shareware (or commercial) software THAT I DEEM
USEFUL TO ME! I assure you that a Hypercard stack of
babaganoosh recipes won't cut it.
For an additional $2 I will include an additional service of providing the current version on disk, plus automatic shipping of any future versions thru 1993. This is good for US users only, as it is almost at cost already for domestic mailings. The address to send these UG membership card photocopies and checks and whatever is:
In the way of a guarantee, I can offer nothing. That is the honest truth that few software authors are willing to state so openly. All I can say is that I have seen no problem with Boot This! and can see no reason to expect that anyone else will. I have followed all the programming rules outlined by Apple except for the specific warning against using the _Launch trap, without which no program of this type could be made functional. I do not have the ability to fully test BT! on all possible systems, or even on a reasonabler variety, as I am just one man, and don't have the simple hardware to test things like 32-bit cleanliness, VM compatibility, or 68040 compatibility. Nothing I have done in creating the program should cause any problems in those or any other areas that I know of, but I cannot vouch for all the little things that my compiler does. If BT! bombs out or even causes damage in a system I have not been able to test it with, I cannot and do not accept liability, because I am warning you quite clearly: USE THIS AND ANYTHING YOU GET FROM A BBS WITH EXTREME CAUTION! Shareware and freeware creation is a low-budget opration, and authors can't do the sort of extensive testing that 3-digit prices allow the big boys to do. If BT! was made by such a company, it would cost 10 times as much. You get the assurance you pay for.
