> Yes, but the ability to have multiple readers and the ability to do
> nondestructive reads are to orthogonal features of message 
> files.  As the

Which is why my "Danger, Will Robinson" alarm goes off when I see
double-read held up as "the right way" to use message files.

> "Swiss army knife" of the MPE file system, you don't want to 
> leave the main
> blade sticking out while you're trying to use the can opener.

So THAT'S where all those scars around my belly button came from!

> of other processes, among other things.  They are one of the 
> gems of the MPE
> system, even with the possible data integrity issues 
> surrounding system
> aborts (which not all relevant to all of their uses).

Definitely; every few months I run into a Win32 development situation
where I find myself saying "Boy, I sure wish NT had MSG files like MPE."
It usually isn't that difficult to emulate the desired behavior, but it
would be cleaner to have it built into the OS. I guess I could write a
new IFS....

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