Macintosh: Application Launch Time Depends on Amount of RAM


When launching FileMaker II (Macintosh IIci, Internal HD80 SC, 8MB RAM) under
the Finder, it takes twice as long as under MultiFinder. I've tried it with
and without the video card and had the same results. I've also tried it with a
Macintosh IIcx, and it took approximately the same time to launch under Finder
and MultiFinder. Can you explain?

We were able to reproduce these results on a number of systems, and it seems
to be based on the amount of memory available to the application. Launching
FileMaker II in a 6MB MultiFinder partition takes significantly longer than in
a 2MB space. When the application launches, it checks the space available to
it, and prepares it for its own use. It is also possible that more resources
are preloaded into available memory. We found the same to happen with a number
of applications, including Microsoft Word.

You didn't mention how much RAM was in the Macintosh IIcx that you tried, but
we suspect that it has 2MB or less. This would explain why the launch time
under Finder was close to that under MultiFinder. Launching FileMaker II under
Finder on an 8MB Macintosh IIx took 50% longer than on the same system in a
512K MultiFinder partition.


Published Date: Feb 18, 2012