XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-xp, alt.windows7.general, alt.comp.os.windows-10   
   From: mariasophia@comprehension.com   
      
   Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:   
   > Kids that grow up in the era of GUI most likely don't understand console   
   > text, and the difference between graphical text and real text. Letting   
   > them to take a screenshot is easier for them to ask for help.   
   >   
   > You can always take the chance to teach them how to cut-and-text from a   
   > console window, that there is something called text in the old computing   
   > days.   
      
   The console window, on Windows anyway, is the weirdest thing nowadays when   
   it comes to how you capture text after the fact (i.e., sans redirects).   
       
      
   Most of us have been using the console since prior to the existence of   
   Windows, where even now, the Windows console probably still feels strange   
   to modern users because it is one of the oldest surviving UI components in   
   the operating system that Bill Gates luckily beat out CP/M for IBM's deal.   
      
   It does not behave like a normal text widget. Instead of treating output as   
   a flowing document, it uses a fixed grid buffer that dates back to Tim   
   Paterson QDOS-era design that Microsoft bought from SCP for PC DOS 1.0.   
      
   This leads to several odd behaviors:   
      
   1. Selecting text is non-intuitive.   
      Until recently you had to enter "Mark" mode, drag a rectangle,   
      and press Enter to copy. This is the opposite of how almost every   
      other GUI text field works.   
      
   2. The buffer is not the same as the visible window.   
      The buffer may be wider than the window, and resizing the window   
      often can reflow or even truncate text. Programs that write directly   
      to screen coordinates can make copying even harder.   
      
   3. Selecting text can pause the running program.   
      This is a legacy behavior from the days when console output   
      and input were tightly coupled.   
      
   Because of all this, taking a screenshot is often the easiest way for newer   
   users to capture what they see. It always works, it preserves formatting,   
   and it matches the habits they already have from phones and tablets.   
      
   Windows Terminal supposedly fixes most of these issues. Dunno much about it   
   though as I don't like it. I'm used to the old school. But it supports   
   normal click-and-drag selection, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, proper Unicode   
   handling, and a modern text rendering engine. It behaves like a   
   contemporary terminal emulator instead of a historical artifact.   
      
   I'm old school. That's for the kids under about the age of 60. :)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)