Re:Rethinking the computer ‘desktop’ as a concept
by TeMPOraL on Tuesday June 01, 2021 @01:23AM
(#27350965)
Yes. One with a generic schema, and to which the user has full access rights.
Fundamentally, it's not the files that make filesystem great. You could devise different models, perhaps a relational one, and paper complexity over with well-designed UIs. They'd probably still be more complex than the filesystem - files are about the simplest data storage abstraction you can invent[0] - but they'd be serviceable, and users would learn.
What makes the filesystem great is that it's an old abstraction, designed in the ancient days back when computing was still about enabling users. Bicycles for the mind and all that. People cared about making things useful to users, instead of just shamelessly exploiting them. So, designed back then, the filesystem grants users the vocabulary to manage their data and freedom to do so, and it's so ingrained that - despite their best efforts - companies weren't able to completely take it away.
Filesystem persists for the same reason e-mail persists. Despite its warts, it's one of those technologies made before the computing industry became exploitative.
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[0] - Despite the frequent claims to the contrary, coming from the web and mobile world. But guess what, data magically held in app and "shared" by magic isn't easier to understand, it's just not understood at all - users have no mental model for this. The mobile app approach works only because it removed all data management features except the share button.
Fundamentally, it's not the files that make filesystem great. You could devise different models, perhaps a relational one, and paper complexity over with well-designed UIs. They'd probably still be more complex than the filesystem - files are about the simplest data storage abstraction you can invent[0] - but they'd be serviceable, and users would learn.
What makes the filesystem great is that it's an old abstraction, designed in the ancient days back when computing was still about enabling users. Bicycles for the mind and all that. People cared about making things useful to users, instead of just shamelessly exploiting them. So, designed back then, the filesystem grants users the vocabulary to manage their data and freedom to do so, and it's so ingrained that - despite their best efforts - companies weren't able to completely take it away.
Filesystem persists for the same reason e-mail persists. Despite its warts, it's one of those technologies made before the computing industry became exploitative.
--
[0] - Despite the frequent claims to the contrary, coming from the web and mobile world. But guess what, data magically held in app and "shared" by magic isn't easier to understand, it's just not understood at all - users have no mental model for this. The mobile app approach works only because it removed all data management features except the share button.