> There are also strange constructions that don't actually correspond to a single folder The Explorer does not browse the file system, it browses a graph of (C

> There are also strange constructions that don't actually correspond to a single folder The Explorer does not browse the file system, it browses a graph of (COM) objects called the “shell namespace”[1], and has been since Windows 95. Notable examples of non-filesystem nodes include My Computer, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, and Network Neighbourhood; a more obscure one is the All Tasks (“god mode”) collection of all settings applets that exists so that the Start menu can search it[2]. I actually think it’s neat how seamlessly this approach has been integrated—we don’t usually think about it even though we actually encounter it all the time. Microsoft’s attempts to extend this to a full-blown object-oriented (Cairo) or relational (Longhorn) filing system were always so muddled I don’t really get what the actual idea was, though. [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/shell/namespace-intro https://learn.microsoft.com/windows/win32/shell/namespace-in... [2] http://brandonlive.com/2010/01/04/the-so-called-god-mode/ http://brandonlive.com/2010/01/04/the-so-called-god-mode/