OSNews

... and geeks still talk about directory names.

Something must have gone terribly wrong at some point.

I actually wonder whether there is a real need for a hierarchy of "files" at all (not to talk about "programs" with their stupid names and brands, "windows", "mouse pointers" and all the unbelievably unnatural and, after all, inconsistent metaphors to "talk to" a computer).

I don't want to troll and I don't have solutions, I'm just asking myself why on Earth I'm after those ridiculously retro devices everybody owns these days.

I do recognize the hard work and brillant ideas people have had, but I really can't stand the smell of idiosyncrasies and rhetoric arguments, which in many cases are only useful to make the whole thing even more confusing, as an advantage to "specialized" workers/companies.

Some people do earn from other people's ignorance, open source or not, you better keep it in your mind!

Just see how the work and ideas of many people these days gets constantly and arbitrarily ridiculed on so many levels: from Gobolinux to Syllable and Plan 9 just to talk about OSes, or the Archy ZUI, Netsukuku or database-like "file systems"... stuff that could really put an end to parts of this whole huge mess IMO.

What we have is really the best we can do? I highly doubt it.

Maybe we need something like an Hippocratic Oath for the IT industry, and/or an artistic/handicraft approach to technology development, rather than new flashy standards talking about the same old crap each and every time.

As a side note, to be less OT, I do prefer the Gobolinux approach, or even better, a sensible default and the opportunity for the user to change the file system structure as he/she likes most without breaking software.