Re: [Ayatana] "fileless" paradigm (was: File menu)

[Brena Boba <brenaiboba@xxxxxxxxx>]

 In a way this seems like a switch from one form of abstract that is in use for years, little boring and repetitive but gets the job done to another, more advanced with bigger potential and bigger problems. And it all seems like a sweet deal but one obvious problem comes to mind. 

On the mobile (smart phones, netbooks) side of things this file-less thing has lot of advantages because, and this is just an opinion that can be absolutely wrong, there aren't that many file types and user case scenarios for user to deal with. Sounds, pictures, videos, documents... all of this, mostly, not for editing but consuming. You copy your comic collection on a netbook and view them when you should be working :) You don't edit, or extract cool graphics and make avatars... You could but thet's what the desktop with a big screen (or two) is for. At least for me :)

On the desktop side of things it gets more complicated and because of that files and folders and "physical" management appears somewhat easier than any tagging system that user would have to learn first before using. Most people now about making a folder and copying a file.

Basically, it boils down to why I don't use players with music library, despite knowing advantages, but ones with a "folder view" option. I have got quite a large collection that is not properly tagged but is neatly organized in folders with covers and info. There is not a single player that knows my way of organising and they will never know. In best case scenario I get about 20 percent of proper tags and the rest go to unknown - unknown and I "loose" my collection. If i use a file view than everything is nice and dandy. This could be the same problem if a switch to file-less system is to take place.

Any tagging system that could take on desktop-wide file types, organization, information and user scenarios would have to be, in lack of a better word, bichin' :) Easier to let the user do the hard work and we make a nice tracking system that can help in presenting some of the information that is important in the context of the work being done.