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> This makes me sad - it was dropped because of problems with other operating systems, not because it was necessarily a bad architecture. No, it was dropped be

> This makes me sad - it was dropped because of problems with other operating systems, not because it was necessarily a bad architecture. No, it was dropped because it was designed without enough forethought given to how that metadata would be transmitted over the wire or when multiple files were bundled consistently. Even if every OS used this scheme a better solution to these problems would have to have been devised. Are extensions perfect? No, they suck. But yet solve this metadata transfer problem "good enough" and therefore won the war. PS - There was also a lack of user management tools/feedback on a lot of systems, for example changing the "file type" was often impossible out of the box, and the file types often unclear unless you went into details/properties on purpose (a potential security headache, up there with hidden extensions ala Windows).

efreak 6y ago
Microsoft removed the file type manager in Vista(?), so it's no longer as simple to change what software opens arbitrary file extensions. You now need to have a file with the extension you want to change the default for, use 'open with', and check the 'use by default' button. If you want to change a bunch of file types by copy/ pasting exe path, sorry, you can't do that without editing the registry. And the new method of changing programs that open groups of file types (ie documents or html), the program you're running needs to be registered as something that can do so, or it won't appear in the list. Want to change all image formats except gif (jpg, png, tiff, bmp, wmf, emf, and so on) to a different image viewer? Your options are to change them all then change gif back, or to change them individually. I think there's a location in the new settings for listing all file type associations, but it still doesn't allow copy/pasting paths for multiple fast modifications. If you want to change the name of a file type as it appears in the file type column in explorer, or want to change the icon used for a type of file to something other than that of the application used to open it, that's no longer possible without editing the registry.

efreak 6y ago

Microsoft removed the file type manager in Vista(?), so it's no longer as simple to change what software opens arbitrary file extensions. You now need to have a file with the extension you want to change the default for, use 'open with', and check the 'use by default' button. If you want to change a bunch of file types by copy/ pasting exe path, sorry, you can't do that without editing the registry. And the new method of changing programs that open groups of file types (ie documents or html), the program you're running needs to be registered as something that can do so, or it won't appear in the list. Want to change all image formats except gif (jpg, png, tiff, bmp, wmf, emf, and so on) to a different image viewer? Your options are to change them all then change gif back, or to change them individually. I think there's a location in the new settings for listing all file type associations, but it still doesn't allow copy/pasting paths for multiple fast modifications. If you want to change the name of a file type as it appears in the file type column in explorer, or want to change the icon used for a type of file to something other than that of the application used to open it, that's no longer possible without editing the registry.