To metadata, or not to metadata

[gump420]

What do you all think of Apple's efforts to kill off file metadata in Mac OS X (other than filename extensions)? Personally I think it's a steaming pile of horse dung, but I wanted to know what you all thought.

(I also needed an excuse to start a topic.  :cool:  )

[ December 17, 2001: Message edited by: gump420 ]

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by gump420:
What do you all think of Apple's efforts to kill off file metadata in Mac OS X (other than filename extensions)? Personally I think it's a steaming pile of horse dung, but I wanted to know what you all thought.

(I also needed an excuse to start a topic.   :cool:   )

[ December 17, 2001: Message edited by: gump420 ]

I don't know how Apple proposes to change it but in my experience metadata for determining file content is *far* superior to using file extensions.  The is another cause for security problems in MS browsers, but I guess that's off topic.

[gump420]

Well, Apple's proposition is to drop metadata entirely in favor of using only filename extensions. Supposedly, this is for compatibility, or some other bull, but it has all the traits of a stupid order handed down from some corporate moron.

Ahh, well . . . the pro metadata petition is at over 8,500 signatures and the anti petition is just over 500. Maybe Apple will bow to the pressure.

[gump420]

oh, btw . . .

 http://www.petitiononline.com/osxmd/petition.html

 http://www.petitiononline.com/osxnomd/petition.html

Those are the links to the petitions in question. Feel free to read the anti and sign the pro!

[gump420]

The Attitudinal column in the Macintosh Daily Journal just covered the OS X Metadata and Anti OS X Metadata petitions recently. Apparently the solution is for Apple to sack Tevinian; from the sound of it, nobody would miss him, either. (-;

[voidmain]

quote:Originally posted by gump420:
The Attitudinal column in the Macintosh Daily Journal just covered the OS X Metadata and Anti OS X Metadata petitions recently. Apparently the solution is for Apple to sack Tevinian; from the sound of it, nobody would miss him, either. (-;

Is Tevinian the guy who came up with the bright idea of using file extentions?  If so, he'll surely get a job with Microsoft. <sarcasm>They love geniuses like this.</sarcasm>

[gump420]

Yep. Apparently the entire fiasco traces back to him; he's also been attempting to push a number of other idiotic ideas down everybody's throats, and not surprisingly he has been met with quite a bit of resistance.

Basically, the story behind that is that there was a technical note released by Apple that was basically commanding developers to do things the NeXT way. Use Objective-C and never use C++. Don't use file type and creator type. Only use Mach-O binaries; if you want OS 9 compatibility, make a seperate CFM binary (despite the problems this can easily create). Blah, blah, blah. Supposedly Tevinian wrote the note, but it didn't have an author on it. In any case, Apple withdrew it within a few days due to MASSIVE negative feedback.

[radagast]

I'm with you gump420 I signed the petition when it first went up.

John Siracusa's article on metadata on Ars Technica says it all IMO.

Actually, I think Tevinian has already announced he's leaving Apple.  Most seem to leave the onus on the happy NeXT type hackers.

[ December 25, 2001: Message edited by: radagast ]