Even if MS-DOS wasn't used anymore, the various MS-DOS file systems are still used; a lot of media comes from the vendor pre-formated in FAT16. Phones, cameras

Even if MS-DOS wasn't used anymore, the various MS-DOS file systems are still used; a lot of media comes from the vendor pre-formated in FAT16. Phones, cameras, USB hard disks, etc are all formatted in FAT by default. Even the file system on Spirit and Opportunity, the Martian rovers, is FAT16! ( See page 6 of https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall09/cos109/mars.rover.pdf https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall09/cos109/m... ) By default MacOSX doesn't read Linux file systems (EFS, ReiserFS, etc); by default Linux doesn't read MacOSX file systems (HFS, HFS+). On the other hand, by default, most system read FAT16 or sometimes FAT32 file systems. Therefore if you want to use those amovible media to exchange data accross file systems, you better stick to those MS-DOS file systems. Granted, you could use MS-Windows extensions, but again, nothing guarantees that the system where you will plug your USB key will have a system understanding those extensions. In all probability, it will have FAT16 or FAT32 support, ie. 8.3 file names.