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John Siracusa writes "as suggested by various Apple employees on Apple's developer mailing lists, a proposal [and petition] regarding the future of file system metadata in Mac OS X has been created created by the Mac developer and user community."
Comments
Metadata might sound like a boring geek issue in a market driven by the fact that most Mac users don't want to deal with boring geek issues, but this is EXTREMELY important.
I won't attempt to go into a ranty technical discussion which I fully admit I wouldn't be qualified for, but do read the info posted at the petition's web site and please seriously consider signing the bad boy!
If developers would just stop being stubborn and learn the new features of OS X that more than replace the old meta data methods they would call for this.
Developers, learn about packages and plist for all your metadata. Don't show your ignorance by asking for the old forked file formats!!!
Have you even read the original article? It does not talk about forked data formats.
Read it and you'll come to the conclusion that this is a highly important issue - and agree with the petition.
[Warning--lengthy rant follows]
I don't understand this attachment to the specific creator/filetype metadata system used in the Classic Mac OS. OS X has metadata for all of its files--the application responsible for opening documents is totally user-configuable on a file-by-file basis. This system is superior in every way to the hard-coded creator codes in the classic OS. Furthermore, if it is appropriate for an application to claim hard ownership over a certain file type (which it almost always isn't) this option is clearly available and documented to developers.
I agree that file extensions do indeed suck, and a mandatory metadata alternative for file type would be nice. However, the current Finder interface for dealing with (i.e. hiding and changing) extensions is the best I've ever seen. Don't want to see an extension? Delete it. Want full names to be visible at all times--go to Finder preferences. Also note that the hidden extension property is stored as metadata in the file. The tradeoff here is worthwhile for most users--yes, file types should not be a part of the file name, however you never have to deal with extensions if you don't want to, and you still maintain compatibility with PCs (unfortunately most of us have to interact with PCs in one way or another to do our work).
Creators and file types were a good thing--no question about that. However, the file typing and app ownership scheme in OS X keeps almost all of the old functionality (or all of it if developers stick to the old APIs) and adds more flexibility from a user standpoint. The user experience would be marginally better if file extensions were always optional, but other than that, OS X's metadata system is excellent.
What's the problem Siracusa is trying to resolve in OS X?
Siracusa is trying to say that Apple shouldn't recommend the disuse of old creator/file type codes in favor of .x** name extensions. He's suggesting that Apple implement a better metadata format than exists now, while retaining the usability of the older formats.
I have read the petition and Siracusa's reviews and everything he says makes sense.
But...
I have been happily using MacOSX for over a month now and I have to say that this issue appears to be pretty much irrelevant to my day to day work. I suspect that it is proably a real issue in theory, but in practice, it just doesn't matter much.
DD
between MacOS Classic style metadata and Windows style metadata.... Apple is going to encourage developers to support one or the other, and right now its leaning towards Windows. This guy is trying to convince Apple not to take the step back, but to take a step forward.
The current situation, where a file saved by TextEdit can be transferred to Windows and double-clicked correctly, BUT NOT TRANSFERRED TO MAC OS 9 with the same success, is totally unacceptable.
The reason: Most of Apple's own Mac OS X apps do not add type/creator codes. It would not harm their beloved Windows compatibility to add them. This situation is unacceptable.
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John Siracusa rocks ... he writes kick-a** OS X reviews over at Ars Technica. Check it out if you haven't already.