The BBC’s Click Online show this weekend carried a report on Apple’s forthcoming OS, Tiger. The report focuses on Apple’s move to introduce personal search technology in the release, called Spotlight. On other televised news, YellowTAB is now selling computers with Zeta in them, via the RTL TV Shop.
BBC puts Tiger in the Spotlight; Zeta PCs Sold via TV
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Why is a video about Apple products only available in Real Media and Windows Media Player?
its the BBC and majority of there visitors have access to players that support either WMV and RM.
Seems weird to me too.
It actually didn’t focus on Tiger, it focussed on Metadata searching. They talked about some company called Blinx, then Microsoft (though it was odd that they didn’t talk about WinFS, but rather some other thing), Google’s rumored codename-Puffin tool, and finally Tiger’s Spotlight.
I had this idea when I first started working on possible UIs for Haiku (OpenBeOS at the time). I’ve always thought the OS should do the heavy lifting of file sorting and allow me to more fluidly organize my files. Spotlight is only going to scratch the surface, in my opinion, of file organization bcause it’s going to be shackled to a search utility. Too bad I can’t program for shit or I might have had some expirimental demo apps long before this.
so, how exactly would you search an OS if there was no utility? if you are running the code to do the search or to organize smart folders, it is a utility.
are to allow more than files in smart folders, and make spotlight query available to all applications. Also, monitoring usage (optionally) to analyze what files belong together, what web searches were research for what essay, etc. Network transparency too. ::drool::
what would ou include in a smart folder if it is not a file? an application?
That’s the point, you shouldn’t have to “search” the OS. There should be a finder like app that presents things like projects, libraries, and other groups of files in smart folder like containers. Sure, there might still be a search utility linked to this capability but imagine something along the lines of smart folders from iTunes except for everything on your system.
For instance, I might want to create a smart folder that brings together all the game executables on my system so I can start them. Currently I need to create a folder that resides somewhere on my hard drive and find a way to make this available to my Apple or Start menu. If I ever move this folder the link to the Apple or Start menu is broken. With smart folders finding just the game executables, none of the assets for the game, I can create a folder in the Apple or Start menus or the Taskbar or Dock. I never have to search for these files because the smart folders have done this for me, even when I set it up initially.
Further, I can create project folders and link graphics, code, e-mails, and other related files regardless of where they reside on the hard drive. In fact, there would be no file structure so where they reside is immaterial. I build project “libraries” simply by creating smart folders that link files through metadata. If I need to add files to another project but still keep them linked to the original project all I need to so is include the new project in the files metadata so the OS knows to group them with both projects. I still haven’t had to search for the files since I’ve saved the metadata through the application like we currently save filenames.
The only time I might have to search for files is when I’m converting old files to the new way of linking through the use of metadata. Once applications begin to add the capability to save files with metadata they will begin to group themselves once a new smart folder has been created.
“If I ever move this folder the link to the Apple or Start menu is broken.”
There’s a guy that’s never used a Mac……
dood, you’re describing Smart Folders as they were outlined at WWDC and in the Paris Expo… chill
“its the BBC and majority of there visitors have access to players that support either WMV and RM.”
Everybody has access to MPEG4… or at least as much as those that use that are using players that can stream the content they are broadcast ing in WMV and RM.
MPEG4 is QuickTime.
They should have done it in QuickTIme.
you are aware that you are describing EXACTLY what spotlight does.
good try at criticism though. <golf claps>
As all BBC content is primarily encoded in RealMedia or Windows Media, then why should they change to Quicktime for just this?? They have already stated that it isn’t feasable for the BBC to have 3 encoded formats (Quicktime, RealMedia & WindowsMedia) that is why they are developing their own opensource codec.
First there is no ‘Start Menu’ on a Mac, and second Mac aliases don’t break when you move them or their original (I believe the same is true of UNIX Symbolic links). So you can create aliases to files and they will work exactly as you expect.
Actually under Unix symbolic links will indeed be broken if you move the “original” file. On the other hand “hard links” won’t because they are just different references to the same inode ie any number of different filenames can refer to the same piece of actual “data” on the disk. Sounds a bit offtopic, I know… but sometimes when discussing filesystems, metadata, spacial metaphores we just plain forget of the really great features that yet exist in advances OSes, and just have to be leveraged.
…the Zeta news have been listed separately?