I have no idea, you are refering to the virtualfolder arent you? I think it´s a way to organise stuff that may be spread out on different drives and folders on a place really close to the surface of the hiarchy. That would be a useful feature I think, as HD space is increasing.

Actually, my most recent post above was just talking about the graphic representation of the folder contents that is one of the few actual uses I've seen touted for the new rescalable system level graphics engine (or meta-engine or whatever TF it is). I have no doubt that this will end up being an important paradigm shift for Windows and Windows users in time, don't get me wrong. But I think we'll have to wait to see what the third party dev world comes up with, when playing with these new toys...


Vista's new Virtual Folder system actually sounds pretty good -- if they implement it in a straightforward, logical fashion. (Not something, as I noted above, that MS always gets right. Or even often... )

WhenI heard the file system was to be SQL-oriented, the first thing I though was, pretty slick. Er, sick. Whatever.

But, you know, I have faith in MS's ability to layer on some confusing tabs and magic buttons that will thoroughly disguise what should be a transparent and logical implementation of contemporary database technology... heh

Just a guess...

Virtual Folders doesn't look like anything new, you can essentially do the same thing in current Windows (yes, with thumbnails even) I think what happened was that MS found that nobody currently does this (becuase it sucks) and maybe they think they will if they dress it up a bit and make it an automatic thing - ie. every file gets a shortcut and stored in "Virtual Folders" which is probably stored somewhere like C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Virtual Folders\

Just what the world needs... more confusion and ambiguity...

heh


Seriously... haven't these nice folks ever read any interface design theory?

The surest way to confuse and frustrate users is to have things move around and appear in different places in different contexts. People want consistency and they want things to stay where they know -- or think -- they can find them.

Remember MS's big "innovation" -- "Smart Menus"?

That's where the content of the applications system menus just keep changing depending on what you've used lately, the context, the weather, who really knew?

Word 97 had them and it drove my mom absolutely nuts until I realized what was happening and went over to her house to shut off the insipid "smart menus"...

Sometimes these supposedly very smart people (talking about the genii of Redmond here, not my mom, although she's plenty smart in her own way) do the stupidest freakin' things...

I just found out that the first windows vista virus has been released.



http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/...viruses_1.html

Sure 512 seems like a lot now, just as 128 seemed like a lot to the generation before, and so on and so on (imagine how the first PC users felt when it came to needing 128K of ram?). But Everything is going to get bigger and require more resources, it will never really end. But keep in mind that this will be a 64bit OS so when you have 8 gigs of ram in the machine, 512 for the OS isn't really so bad afterall.

I'm sure there will be a point when we're all saying how amazing it used to be that an OS onl needed 512M of ram to run and how these new OSes that require 5gigs of RAM are just bloated. lol.

I kind of like the idea of the flashy stuff for enjoyment, especially now that modern hardware can handle it without bating an eye. But at the same time, for those needing streemlining, I don't see anything wrong with the current version of windows. I think the new one may be more for those of us who are missing out on the UI as the underworkings of XP and 2000 seem to be doing fine.

But that's only my opinion. :-)

I think you make some good points -- and, in a funny but very real way, this will most likely be another example of a 'rising tide lifting all boats'...

But, that said, we're talking a quadrupling of required resources. (Assuming this new MRR was developed with similar criteria to XP's MRR of 128 MB of RAM.

Now, sure, I'm currently running 1.25 GB of RAM and can go up to 2 GB in my notebook should I need to. But, while that give me more elbow room to spread the work out, it doesn't get the work done much faster as a rule. [I barely ever go into VM. I find VM distasteful. heh )

And you gotta figure that every extra byte of RAM that's needed is going to put more weight on the CPU, moving it around and occasionally processing it. And more weight on drive subsystems, etc.

So, though I have over a GB of RAM, I still put some effort into keeping my system running lean and mean and my load size small. (Currently 112 MB with a 35 second boot time. Not bad, I think, for a laptop that's used for everything from web and database dev to audio production and video editing.)

Ultimately, I don't mind shelling out more resources -- if I'm going to get something in return!

But, duly impressed though I am by the gee-whiziness of OS X's Quartz engine and Aqua interface, I've never found that the rescalable graphics had any actual benefit for me in trying to get things done on a Mac.

Now, it must be said, that my work on Macs is mostly getting things in and out of them, running utilities, using Photoshop for batch processing graphics, etc, for clients who are calling on me to implement their graphics or designs on the web. Perhaps if I were to use some apps that really make use of the advanced features of Quartz I would begin to see why they really are necessary now.

Don't get me wrong, here, I think it's a great notion and it certainly is time for MS to get up to speed with a rescalable graphics engine.

But I've yet to see any compelling use for one, for me... for now.

Hopefully, when the technology hits the large and vibrant 3rd party dev community that serves the broader computing community, we'll see some real innovations and the kind of gotta-have functionality that has driven most big jumps in personal computing.

So, I'm skeptical -- but hopeful.

But skeptical...

heh

_____________

PS... first virus... ... we should bronze it and hang it from the rear view mirror... where I can clearly see The Good Ol Days rapidly receding...