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Well, when you insert a tape into a VCR you still have to hit PLAY before it does anything. Not that there's anything wrong setting your computer to automatica
by thought_alarm 16y ago
Well, when you insert a tape into a VCR you still have to hit PLAY before it does anything. Not that there's anything wrong setting your computer to automatically play a CD.
But it's not about audio, it's about software.
Starting with Windows 3.0, Microsoft's approach to Windows OS usability involved hiding the file system from the user. Autorun is merely an extension of that philosophy. It allows Microsoft to hide a CD-ROM's ugly MS-DOS file system from the user.
An alternate approach is to make the file system less ugly.
- jbri 16y agoWhat user-unfriendly VCRs did you use?
- thought_alarm 16y agoRCA SelectaVision. It had a wire remote with a nice big play button.
- jarek 16y agoHiding a device's filesystem from the user would later prove to be a relatively unpopular solution. </sarcasm>
- ericd 16y agoMostly for geeks, who really weren't who they were designing for.
- nitrogen 16y agoMost VCRs I used would automatically play tapes that had the anti-erase tab removed (such as commercially prerecorded movies), but would require pressing play if the anti-erase tab was present to avoid losing position on a tape with recording in progress (e.g. one used for time shifting multiple episodes).