re: backups

[josch <josch Rcs1 urz tu-dresden de>]

Hi!

> I agree!  I would be nice!  Very nice!

You're not the only one:

--- mail from <don@jnd.org> ---

> I completely agree. The structure of computer files is inappropriate
> for users.
> 
> Things have not always been this way. Earlier systems, such as
> Tenex, used to save all versions of files, so it would be possible
> to back up to the third-previous version.  An early word processor
> used to save 'dribble" files, which was a keystroke history of the
> editing, so that one could always recover anything. One could even
> recover past a file deletion.
...
> I personally think the file structure is irrelevant to humans and
> should be discarded. and your notion of a 'delta record" is
> appropriate; record al the changes, so it is possible to undo them
> or redo them, no matter what actions have taken place.

> Alas, I don't see any glimmers of hope.

> Don Norman

--- end of quoted mail ---

He even goes a step further to discard the file structure ...

> But still... building this feature into the very OS???
> Perhaps the most user friendly solution would be to create a brand
> new diskformat that could be supported by a couple of OS'es...

The Be-OS offers attributed files as an additional feature of the file
system. There is a DB-like search for attribs. So I thought maybe ...
but it needn't be the OS, you're right.

> ... but I presume that it would be far easier (and therefore less
> dangerous) to create a new *file*format with logging support.

> The drawback would be that normal programs, not running under GNOME,
> would be unable to read this logged fileformats.

I had something like that in mind. A generic file-object/-type
offering the possibility/an interface to save delta-records for
various kinds of files (text, graphics, ...). The latest version could
remain in a ``readable'' format, so the drawback Liss mentioned would
be gone.

Is this gui-list the right place to discuss the topic? It's not (yet)
graphical, but it's about users ...

Is there anybody out there seeing a real chance to realize this? I
don't have the knowlede and the possibility to do any practical
programming but I'm eager to learn and assist ...


Alas, Is there any glimmers of hope?


    Johannes

-- 
Johannes Sch"afer
    mailto:josch@rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de