> Maybe we can copy-paste without requiring the original program to stay open. Probably no, we will not be able to copy and paste without requiring the origina

> Maybe we can copy-paste without requiring the original program to stay open. Probably no, we will not be able to copy and paste without requiring the original program to stay open. If you think of plain text, yes, that can work. But what about images? In which format should they be stored? Who should take care of converting these images from the internal storage model (the one used in Gimp is quite strange, for example) into plain bitmaps? And what about rich text? How can I copy and paste a bold, red, Helvetica 16pt text? In which format will it be stored in the clipboard? Copy and paste, in its modern form, requires some form of MIME type negotiation that, in turn, requires applications to be around to negotiate.