Storing Your Life On A ClipBoard

I have to admit that making the switch from Windows to a Linux operating system years ago was not without curses, lost files, and a few divaish temper tantrums. In the beginning, when a deadline was getting dangerously close, there were one or two late night scream and tearfests that usually were started with:

“In Windows, option X is on menu Y, where the F@$# did this primitive, free-piece-O-crap Linux thing put it?”

Patiently, my programmer would show me what I was looking for and where it was stored by Linux or its associated programs. Programs, options, and actions are usually located in a more logical place on a Linux box (though not always). I was only looking for things where Microsoft had trained me to.

Through the years and several Linux distributions (RedHat, SUSE, Linspire, and lately, Ubuntu) I learned where to find (most) things on a Linux box, how to use the programs, and even how to install the OS. (I still can’t figure out how to tell when my hard drive is almost full though, until of course, I can’t save my latest document, and once again a deadline is looming.) One of the things I have always loved about Linux distributions (at least the ones I have used) is a little program called Klipper (part of KDE’s base set of libraries). Klipper is a clipboard that saves everything that you have highlighted, cut or copied regardless of the program you’re in, switching to, or closing (i.e. Klipper is tied to the operating system, not a particular program, such as Open Office). Klipper can save (at least on my computer) up to 2048 entries. Don’t think you want or need that many things saved, trust me, I’ve dug through Klipper for websites, important names, dates, and paragraphs I deleted a week ago and suddenly decided I needed again.

So why am I getting all warm and fuzzy regarding a simple, little cut and paste program? Partially due to Jeff Atwoods’ recent post, Reinventing the Clipboard, and because of a panicky, Windows related phone call I received this morning.

Mr. Atwood states:

“…we’re stuck with the same old single-item clipboard model. The clipboard isn’t some obscure operating system feature, either. People use it all the time.”

Mr. Atwood seems to be working in Windows world, which is fine, what just really surprises me is that since 2000 (the last time I used Windows) Microsoft’s operating system is still so…primitive. How can one survive with just one thing saved in their clipboard? I cut things from five different documents, the web browser, and then rearrange all the snippets in, say, an email. If I did things one at a time, I’d be switching between workspaces and programs for HOURS (okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration). And let’s not forget my extreme “highlight and delete” Tourette syndrome symptom. Nine or ten cuts (or days) later, I decide I need that paragraph back, and Klipper saves the day (and my sanity).

Klipper doesn’t meet all of Mr. Atwoods’ criteria for the perfect clipboard. It satisfies his desire for history (2048 entries or whatever number you specify up to the maximum). It is persistent (all your entries are still on the board after an operating system shut down or restart). His third point, visual browsing, is where Klipper falls short. By clicking on the clipboard symbol in my desktop tool bar, I can see a list of my most recent text cuts, however, it does not show a thumbnail of graphics I have cut or even that the graphics are sitting on the clipboard. Ahh, but shortcomings like this are what keep developers employed.

So, as stated my Mr. Atwoods’ post, Windows has failed to evolve, at least on the cut and paste frontline, which leads me to this morning’s coincidental phone call. A Windows-using friend called in panic, having lost a number of hours of work due to a ‘permissions error’ that occurred when he was trying to save a document. The computer summarily crashed. He’d originally called for my programmer, but it being before noon, the programmer was still asleep, and my friend was stuck with my second-hand, nontechnical knowledge. He was asking where the document might have gone.

“The tmp file?” I suggested. “No wait, I think it’s called temp on Windows.”

“How do I find that?” he asked.

“Places.”

“Huh?”

“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled, searching my memory. “Um, the file browser…File Explorer!”

“Um, no, don’t see that,” he said.

“How do you view your documents?” I asked.

“In Word.”

“Ahh.” Yeah, I had no response to that gem. “How about a search? Doesn’t Windows have a Search in its pull down menu?”

I finally remembered something useful and my friend used that, though to no avail; the file was just gone.

He cussed, then said, “I had just copied the text, too, ready to send it to a client in an email. If only I’d sent the email before saving…”

“Oh!” I got all excited. “You can still paste it then. It’s saved in your clipboard!”

No such luck. Lack of persistence bit my friend in the ass. And where the hell has File Explorer gone? Maybe Windows is actually de-evolving into gooey, primordial bits and bytes.