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There is a transition from a file-centric to an app-centric model, that I mostly disapprove of, but that's what is happening. Before, you had files stored in a
by GuB-42 5y ago
There is a transition from a file-centric to an app-centric model, that I mostly disapprove of, but that's what is happening.
Before, you had files stored in a filesystem, you picked the file and opened it with the app. On Windows, you double-click on the file, on a command line, you type "app filename".
Now the trend is to first open the app and then use the app to fetch your data, that data is entirely managed by the app and may be stored in an opaque area of a filesystem, some server on the internet, etc...
I disapprove of the "new" way (that is not so new, but it is the current trend) because it favors lock-in and general loss of control. But there are also some advantages such as being able to do versioning, syncing, collaborative work, searching and general database-like operations when your filesystem doesn't support it. A lot of popular open source "not evil" software use that model, for example, IIRC, Firefox has always stored bookmarks in an opaque sqlite database while Internet Explorer stored them as files in a folder, and I don't think I need to tell you which one is considered the most evil.
- wlesieutre 5y agoOn the flip side, Steve Jobs tried to make this happen for the iPad and Apple eventually gave up and built the Files app because they were trying to make it into a system you could do actual work. "All data belongs to a single app" was at odds with most work tasks other than checking your email, and sending copies of data back and forth between apps with share sheets is alright if you only have to do it once, but it doesn't really scale.
- dTal 5y agoThe people pushing to have all desktop programs isolated from each other by default in the name of "security" are making the same mistake.
- dotancohen 5y agosqlite is opaque? I've got this script to list my open tabs, and a few more scripts for other Firefox actions. $ grep FIREFOX ~/.bashrc export FIREFOX_DIR=$HOME/.mozilla/firefox/q3m93qpe.default-release/ $ cat ~/.local/bin/ff-tabs #!/bin/bash lz4jsoncat $FIREFOX_DIR/sessionstore-backups/recovery.jsonlz4 | jq -r '.windows[].tabs[].entries[-1] | .title, .url, ""'
- dotancohen 5y agoHa! Of course I would choose an example based on JSON, not sqlite, but the point still stands. Sqlite is one of my favorite file formats, it presents the data in an interface far easier to manipulate for a one-off CLI command than writing another Python script with open() and dozens of re.sub().
- GekkePrutser 5y agoJSON is also not very opaque. What's opaque is iOS with its locked down storage per app as you mentioned. Some OS builders have been trying to push this model on the desktop but have not been very successful due to legacy. It only seems to be done with mobile apps running on the desktop (Windows with Android apps and macOS with iOS) I also lament this model, I think we should always have full access to our devices. But there's a strong commercial push for lock-in and subscription models.
- svalee 5y agoHow do you use it?