Re: Re-connecting

On Wed, 9 Feb 2005, Terry Loveall wrote:

> I like graphical file managers that sort and select on different criteria.
> Enables me to paint a new perspective on old data.
>
> Remembering that a 'file' is an ordered set of data, puts data objects into
> the filable category. Maybe an OS file structure is not needed but some form
> of 'filing' is. Unless you like sorting thru a heap on your desktop :-)
>

Its funny, that is a literal description of my physical desktop. Heaps of 
papers, no particular organization. I wonder if the inventer of file 
system metaphor was a type of neat and orderly person, keen on 
labeling things and puting them in containers. Perhaps he was user of 
physical filling system.

There are opportunities for the computer system to do the filling. 
Some existing examples are email, where the emails are presented as they 
are recieved in a temporal order. Some email clients allow other 
presentations like by sender, for example. This is similer to the example 
you give above, with sorting files within a folder by different criteria. 
Perhaps these principles can be generalized and applied equally to all 
data objects, then a file system resembles more a database.

My critique of hierarchical file systems is that they put too much burden 
on the user, to give each file a name and place within the hierarchy. Also 
they are not very general or flexible. I think the system could be much 
more active in recording information about data objects, and the system 
could make this information availible in a general way to applications.

Mark