4 ms·

>Basically, in 2014 computer usage more closely mirrors the workflow of an author (revisions, publishing, etc), rather than an employee filling up a file cabine

by jasode 12y ago

>Basically, in 2014 computer usage more closely mirrors the workflow of an author (revisions, publishing, etc), rather than an employee filling up a file cabinet for internal use (thank to the facebook and the like) How did you come to this conclusion about patterns of usage? I'd think the typical user/consumer would more likely have 1000 mp3 files rather than 1000 personally authored Microsoft Word documents (or Photoshop PSD files, etc.) What about another common usage such as digital camera photos? The digital camera (or iPhone) has jpg "files". How would the user mentally translate the "files" living on a FAT32 flash card and copy them to your "Library Items" storage system? Do they keep 2 mental models of storage paradigms in their head? If your proposal includes a driver/wrapper for hiding the FAT32 file inside the concept of "library item", it seems like you're just renaming "files" to "library items". It's more a shift in terminology rather than shift in paradigm as a sibling comment already noted. The filesystems in an operating system (NTFS, ext3, etc) are already implemented as special purpose databases. The "rows" are file id entries and they each point to the "blobs" which are the file contents. Whatever you propose to build has to reimplement this underlying "database" as well. Whether you call the rows of that database "files" or "library items" or "objects" or "documents", it isn't going to revolutionize the approach.

freework 12y ago
My system is only meant to be used by humans. Software will still use the traditional filesystem. Instead of the user supplying a filename/path for new content, they submit arbitrary metadata. When retrieving content, they query via a language called LQL (Library Query Language). Basically the system works a lot like ID3 tags for mp3 files. 'Arbitrary metadata' is a lot like the fields for 'title', 'date', 'album', etc except they are arbitrary (you can use any set of key/value for metadata items) Libraries can connect to other libraries. A 'Library' is much like an email inbox, except its one user per machine instead of multiple users per machine. Each library is 'addressed' via a domain name. All communication between libraries is done through HTTPS. Traditional filesystems use a permission system that is very archaic. In 1960 it was common for there to be multiple users on one machine, but in 2014, everyone has their own machine. File permissions are useless, since I'm th one person who ever uses this computer. "Permissions" in the 2014 sense is which of my facebook friends gets to see these photos.
- angersock 12y ago
  So, you're not building a filesystem (because that's hard, and requires concrete engineering skills), but instead a glorified file metadata search? So, MongoDB with a file URL? (Hint: that's you could implement the MVP of this, and if you use a URL you can even reference user files they don't store locally) And file permissions are dead? Because nobody has kids that use the same desktop they do? This is (from a technical standpoint) the silliest goddamn thing I've ever heard. From a product standpoint, you could probably pitch and get a few M. Why the fuck not.
  - freework 12y ago
    What I'm buoding is most definitely not a "filesystem". Those use filenames and folders and crap like that. My system does away with that. What you said about a glorified metadata search is right on. Some people share devices, but most people we share with use other devices. I'm glad you think its silly because all great things have haters (bitcoin, justin bieber, etc.)
    - DigitalJack 12y ago
      "I'm glad you think its silly because all great things have haters" Stupid things have haters too. Some people "hating" your idea doesn't make it good. Doesn't make it bad either. I don't know what windows does these days, but OSX has had tags and metadata for "files" for a while. It's even easy to add the info, and search for it. I never bother though because, for me, it doesn't solve any problems or add any value.
    - SunShiranui 12y ago
      I wouldn't say that having haters is a good measure of "greatness", though.
    - walterbell 12y ago
      Baloo, https://community.kde.org/Baloo https://community.kde.org/Baloo is the current incarnation of the Linux semantic desktop, http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ "It's responsible for handling user metadata such as tags, rating and comments. It also handles indexing and searching for files, emails, contacts, and so on" Cross-device research for semantic desktop: http://www.dime-project.eu/en/home/dime/project/solution/contenido.aspx http://www.dime-project.eu/en/home/dime/project/solution/con...

by jasode 12y ago

freework 12y ago

My system is only meant to be used by humans. Software will still use the traditional filesystem. Instead of the user supplying a filename/path for new content, they submit arbitrary metadata. When retrieving content, they query via a language called LQL (Library Query Language). Basically the system works a lot like ID3 tags for mp3 files. 'Arbitrary metadata' is a lot like the fields for 'title', 'date', 'album', etc except they are arbitrary (you can use any set of key/value for metadata items) Libraries can connect to other libraries. A 'Library' is much like an email inbox, except its one user per machine instead of multiple users per machine. Each library is 'addressed' via a domain name. All communication between libraries is done through HTTPS. Traditional filesystems use a permission system that is very archaic. In 1960 it was common for there to be multiple users on one machine, but in 2014, everyone has their own machine. File permissions are useless, since I'm th one person who ever uses this computer. "Permissions" in the 2014 sense is which of my facebook friends gets to see these photos.

angersock 12y ago
So, you're not building a filesystem (because that's hard, and requires concrete engineering skills), but instead a glorified file metadata search? So, MongoDB with a file URL? (Hint: that's you could implement the MVP of this, and if you use a URL you can even reference user files they don't store locally) And file permissions are dead? Because nobody has kids that use the same desktop they do? This is (from a technical standpoint) the silliest goddamn thing I've ever heard. From a product standpoint, you could probably pitch and get a few M. Why the fuck not.
- freework 12y ago
  What I'm buoding is most definitely not a "filesystem". Those use filenames and folders and crap like that. My system does away with that. What you said about a glorified metadata search is right on. Some people share devices, but most people we share with use other devices. I'm glad you think its silly because all great things have haters (bitcoin, justin bieber, etc.)
  - DigitalJack 12y ago
    "I'm glad you think its silly because all great things have haters" Stupid things have haters too. Some people "hating" your idea doesn't make it good. Doesn't make it bad either. I don't know what windows does these days, but OSX has had tags and metadata for "files" for a while. It's even easy to add the info, and search for it. I never bother though because, for me, it doesn't solve any problems or add any value.
  - SunShiranui 12y ago
    I wouldn't say that having haters is a good measure of "greatness", though.
  - walterbell 12y ago
    Baloo, https://community.kde.org/Baloo https://community.kde.org/Baloo is the current incarnation of the Linux semantic desktop, http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ http://www.semanticdesktop.org/ "It's responsible for handling user metadata such as tags, rating and comments. It also handles indexing and searching for files, emails, contacts, and so on" Cross-device research for semantic desktop: http://www.dime-project.eu/en/home/dime/project/solution/contenido.aspx http://www.dime-project.eu/en/home/dime/project/solution/con...