Jonathan Briggs writes: [...]
> > However, query directories (or "smart folders") will have this namespace > problem in every case and there is no avoiding it. If the query is for > every file modified in the past day, the file path through the query > directory is not going to match any given name of the file. Same for > keyword queries, ownership queries, or whatever. Which I think exactly points to one fundamental problem with the idea that names are attributes of object: this idea is incompatible with the notion of dynamically created "views" that in effect add new paths through which objects are reachable. These paths _are_ names as far as user is concerned (after all names exist to reach objects), but they are not in the name-as-attribute model. > > In the traditional directory system, a file doesn't have an official > name, just links to it from directory entries. Perhaps if you think of > the proposed "name" meta-data as a "preferred name" the idea would work > better for you? Frankly speaking, I suspect that name-as-attribute is going to limit usability of file system significantly. Note, that in the "real world", only names from quite limited class are attributes of objects, viz. /proper names/ like "France", or "Jonathan Briggs". Communication wouldn't get any far if only proper names were allowed. Nikita.
