

Ask HN: What's the future of the file browser? - MatthewRayfield

If desktop applications go the way of web and mobile apps, will we be using a file browser in the future?<p>With web apps it becomes difficult to pull a user's cross-app data together with such varied APIs and data formats. But do we even need our data in one place or will we just open the program that has our data "in it"?<p>What do you think?
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spooneybarger
Hopefully the file browser and the hierarchical file systems die. I've never
liked them. It is a single limited view on how to organize your information.
Severely limiting. Within a year of using a hierarchical file system, I've
been waiting for something better to come along and get traction. Can't wait
for it to happen, I just hope I like everything else that comes along with it
( and the privacy and security implications of the cloud give me pause ).

i still hope that something like lifestreams ( <http://cs-
www.cs.yale.edu/homes/freeman/lifestreams.html> ) takes off or a file system
w/ the database like aspects that the BeOS had ( WebOS has a decent amount of
that ).

~~~
chipsy
I think an ideal persistent-data system would let you mix and match your
methods. Sometimes you want a stream, and other times you want a hash, tree or
graph type of structure, or a full relational database. A file system that
included all of these would give you the essential data structures of
programming in a from-the-ground-up persistently stored form.

But the biggest issue is really a standardization one. Hierarchical is
everywhere and it's hard to pull away from.

~~~
MatthewRayfield
Don't you think that having so many ways of organizing data might just lead to
confusion? For you or me it might seem great to have so many options, but for
the average computer user I feel like it could be pretty overwhelming.

~~~
spooneybarger
If you provide a standard pool then the application could decide how to
display by adding specific data to it. Want to just use metadata, that is
there. Want to use hierarchy? Provide a way to do. Each app can do what it
wants.

~~~
MatthewRayfield
I really like that idea. That way it would be completely up to the application
creator to make the experience of organizing data make sense in context.

~~~
spooneybarger
That was the general idea behind the newton's 'soup' and the db parts of the
BeFS.

~~~
MatthewRayfield
These were all things before my time. I appreciate you bringing them up,
Lifestreams too, gives me interesting things to read and think about.

~~~
spooneybarger
It is sad is how little we have progressed since then.

~~~
MatthewRayfield
It's true. It seems strange to me that there hasn't been any innovation in the
way we organize files in a long time, especially with the trend towards touch-
based interfaces and focus on user experience.

