OSUser: BeOS Journal #3 - The filetyping problem

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BeOS Journal #3: The Filetyping Problem Scot Hacker, ZDNet 01/10/97 What does your operating system do when you double-click on a file? Does it know what application you want the file to be opened by? Does it give you a choice of apps? Should the association between file types and applications be system-wide, or vary for every file? These questions seem simple on the surface, but no operating system I know of has satisfactory answers -- although some are better than others. If you use a Macintosh, you're accustomed to seeing files open in the application that created them. If you use Windows, you're accustomed to seeing files open in the application you've designated system-wide for that type of file. Both systems have their advantages and their weaknesses. Windows' weakness lies in the fact that, in order for files to open correctly, the user must have the proper extension tacked on to the end of the filename. For instance, if you want a file to open up as a Word document, you've got to name it "filename.doc". If you name it simply "filename", Windows has no idea what to do with it and brings up a list of all applications on the system (similar to the Mac's EasyOpen). Not only is this system brain-dead, but it imposes an unneccessary burden on the end user. On the other hand, the Mac isn't any more helpful in this regard. In fact, sometimes it's a downright pain in the neck. The assumption that the application you created a file with is the best one to open it with is just plain wrong. For instance, Photoshop is good at making JPEGs. But I only want to launch Photoshop to make JPEGs, not to view them. It gets worse. Let's say I have a folder full of HTML files. Some of them were saved out of Netscape, some out of Word, some out of BBEdit, and some out of SimpleText. Now, any time I double-click one of these files, I want it to open in Netscape -- but the Mac makes this almost impossible, whereas Windows makes it easy. Sure, you can change file associations on the Mac one at a time, but that's no help when you've got 300 files to work with. And please don't trumpet the grace of drag-and-drop, which is only useful when the target icon is visible. If I have to dig around for an icon or launch pad onto which I can drop my files, I'm wasting time. Sometimes, when an OS is just trying to help, its assumptions get in the way. Brain-dead systems are often more flexible, and the brain-deadness of Windows actually makes day-to-day work quite a bit easier in this regard. But both systems are badly broken, and that's why I was disappointed to see the way file associations are handled on the BeOS. The development team has lifted the Macintosh method wholecloth from the pages of computing history and plunked it down smack-dab in the middle of our tabula rasa of an operating system. If I FTP `filename.html` down from the Net onto my BeBox and double-click it, BeOS just plays dumb and asks me if I'd like to launch the Edit application. That's a problem. If I can look at the file and know it's an HTML doc just by glancing at the extension, then my computer should be at least as smart. When users are sharing files on the same platform, filetyping isn't an issue. But in this permanently networked, cross-platform world, the problem is big and getting bigger. We download all kinds of files from the Net, not to mention floppy exchanges. BeOS will be able to read Mac and DOS formatted disks very soon now (the X-Files utility available from http://www.be.com/beware/Utilities.html already lets you do this, albeit in a somewhat limited fashion). But once you've got files from other systems onto the BeOS, you still need a fast, flexible, and easily customizable way of associating files with them. The question then, from a user-interface perspective, becomes this: Where on the spectrum between brain-dead openness and user-friendly features should the BeOS sit? I believe there's a solution out there that can satisfy all users on this point, and it comes in two parts. The first involves availing ourselves of the MIME types Internet standard, which lets Web browsers on all platforms handle all number of mysterious file types transparently. You simply register files into a MIME database when they arrive for the first time, and for ever after the files are handled properly. This functionality could be handled easily by the database the BeOS is built upon. There's a lot more to it than that, and in fact, several intrepid souls out there have written extensively on the topic. See http://www.qnx.com/~chrish/Be/FileTypes.html for more information. So that takes care of a system-wide solution, but what about user overrides? I may want all image files to open in Be's ImageView app, but not the files in a particular folder, which I want to open in Photoshop because they constitute a work-in-progress. Fine, give us localized controls for specifying filetype associations. And finally, give me access to opening applications from wherever I am. I should be able to right-click any file, choose Open With. . . and be presented with a list of commonly used applications. Not every app on the system, mind you -- that would be senseless. Rather, I should be able to specify exactly what's going to show up on that list. So here's the situation: Be's filetype handling, as of DR 8.2, is as broken as that the other major operating systems. But there's time for improvement before 1.0 hits the streets, and these are the steps Be needs to take the break the pattern: 1. Arrange for a method of customizable, system-wide file-type handling -- such as MIME-typing, along with a localized override for individual files. 2. Don't make me drag-and-drop when I want to open up a file in something other than its associated application. Give me access to whatever tool I need from wherever my mouse cursor is at any given moment. Simple, right? Well, probably not, but the file system is being entirely re-written for DR9, and this is a great time to make major changes. Borrowing bad habits from the history of computing is no way to break new ground. The BeOS should be more customizable, flexible, and usable than anything out there. That's when me and thousands of other users will stop using MacOS and Windows95. Follow-up: Last week I wrote about difficulties I was having getting the BeBox to send outgoing e-mail. Astute Be user Jeff Hull clued me in to the solution: Make sure the proper hostname for your machine is entered in the Network preferences dialog. Once I changed this information to my ISP account name, all my pending mail went flying out the door. That's one more critical step toward daily usability. |
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