Open Sesame! 1.1

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On: 2014-04-14 23:08:26
Updated by: InkBlot
On: 2023-07-14 14:01:20
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What is Open Sesame! 1.1?

Since the Mac's arrival, third-party vendors have unveiled a wealth of products designed to make the Finder more powerful. Alas, many add-on solutions well aren’t geared to novices; even some of the shortcuts built into System 7 — aliases, for example — remain a mystery to many Mac users. Open Sesame is a new utility that automates Finder operations without resorting to macros or scripts.

Open Sesame consists of an extension and a start-up application; once it’s running, the application discreetly hides in the background. Open Sesame lets you automate up to 12 different types of Finder operations: opening and closing files; hiding, showing, and arranging windows; emptying the Trash; shutting down; making stationery documents; rebuilding the desktop; and moving items into or out of the Apple Menu Items, Startup Items, and Desktop Items folders. (Open Sesame can only rearrange windows of a few applications, such as Microsoft Excel, however.)

A preferences dialog box lets you tell Open Sesame to stop making suggestions for any category of operation. You can specify if you want to be informed about new observations by dialog box or with a lessobtrusive flashing icon in the menu. Open Sesame also gives you the option of being notified by a friendly female voice. (Version 1.1, which should be shipping by the time you read this, will add expanded voice support and the ability to dynamically rearrange the Desktop Folder so that, for example, when you launch your spreadsheet one set of documents and folders appears on the desktop, and when you launch your word processor another set appears.)

A browser lets you view all the observations that Open Sesame has made and turn automated tasks on and off. (If you delete an observation that you once declined to automate, Open Sesame may make the same suggestion again, so it’s best to leave them around.) You can create new instructions manually using a straightforward interface.

According to Charles River Analytics, Open Sesame employs sophisticated neural-network technology to make its suggestions. To test Open Sesame, I followed the manual’s advice and didn’t alter my work routine. After a few hours. Open Sesame began to make new observations. Some, like its offer to automate opening a group of documents or empty the Trash as soon as it was full, were helpful; others, such as the oftrepeated suggestion to open applications at a particular time, weren’t as constructive.

For a new category of software. Open Sesame is surprisingly well designed, although people with strict work habits are more apt to find its suggestions worthwhile than are those who don’t follow a routine. Open Sesame is also more likely to be attractive to novice or intermediate users. As time goes by, expanded support for Apple events will allow Open Sesame to automate third-party applications, making it even more useful.

Tessler, Franklin N. (May 1994). Open Sesame 1.02. Macworld. (pg. 84).


Download Open Sesame! 1.1 for Mac

(630.32 KiB / 645.45 KB)
System 7.0 - 7.6 - Mac OS 8 - 8.1 / compressed w/ Stuffit
7 / 2014-04-14 / cfa5d2ca331d30e4d1fa011f18dfa47d95ecf770 / /


Architecture


68K + PPC (FAT)



Compatibility notes


Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II





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