Re: Request: Test suite for EFS.

[Ian McKellar <yakk-gnome-list yakk net au>]

On Sun, Feb 20, 2000 at 02:24:04AM +0000, u07ih@abdn.ac.uk wrote:
> > Why _must_ it be one file?
> 
> See below.
> > 
> > If you choose to store it in a directory rather than a file then you don't
> > have to do this. 
> 
> A normal user makes a gnumeric spreadsheet with some images in it.
> He expects there to be 1 file, after all, you have really created one document.
> One document, one file. 
> And again, if it's a directory, how do you move the "file" from one place to
> another? Making a tarball isn't exactly the most user friendly way to do it.
> 
Drag and drop?

GUI file management tools - both finder/explorer tools and FTP tools - handle
directories intelligently. NeXTStep used directories for Applications - 
completely transparently for the user and the developer. That way they could
store binaries for multible architectures and application resources under one
logical location. If you're using the command line you use "cp -R", if you're
using a GUI you drag and drop or whatever you use right now.

EFS is effectively the same as a directory UI wise, speed wise, etc. The
difference is that directories exist, work and have been used widely for many
years.

Remember: Users don't care about files - they care about documents. So long as
they can treat their documents as distinct entities they'll be happy.

Ian