Re: GNOME needs 'Datatypes lib' (Was: About metadata)

[Christopher Curtis <ccurtis ee fit edu>]

On Wed, 19 Aug 1998, David Jeske wrote:

> You know, it is not a bad thing to have GNOME understand every file
> format, nor is it implausable. BeOS, like Amiga, has a flexible

I don't think it's a bad thing, but Implausible, yes.  Where is my Word 97
viewer?  (as if I used Word...)  Or powerpoint?  Or Archibus?  How about
the latest AutoCAD?  The beauty thing here is that metadata can be
assigned to *any* file that we can access, without having to worry about
the file format, as we never should have to worry about it.  Data about
data should not depend on the data file being willing to accept it.

> framework called "Datatypes", which has a set of intermediate formats,
> and a system for throwing a file in and having it automatigcally
> decode it into the "general" format with the appropriate plug-in

This is fine for non-proprietary stuff.  I'd like to see what they do with
this binary-only ".exp" file I have.

> > but you're also
> > obsolescing almost every format currently in existance.  You're also
> > saying that I'm completely screwed if I want to, say, make a HTML file.
> 
> However, I agree that the 'put everything in metadata' strategy is a
> bit premature. :)

I don't get your statement.  You (and/or the original poster) mentioned
putting this data only in file formats that support it (did I mention that
I think it would be bad to have to open and read every file to get
metadata from it, or find that there is no metadata?) - I was saying that
if I wanted to create a HTML file and attach metadata to it, I couldn't. 
Especially if that metadata was only for me ("I put this disclaimer at the
bottom of every page because my fscking boss...") 

--
Christopher Curtis               - http://www.ee.fit.edu/users/ccurtis
                                 - System Administrator, Programmer
Melbourne, Florida  USA          - http://www.lp.org/