Until it has full access to the file system and a terminal. It’s a toy.
I'd say the majority of users on any platform should NEVER have access to CMD-line and file system.
You can just google for 10 mins and find a plethora of knuckleheads following blind mice instructions or winging-it themselves and bricking the OS!
File system is ONLY for:
experienced users whom have tried and tested their knowledge and KNOW really KNOW what they're doing,
when apps (regardless of platform) do not collate a db of the documents it's associated with:
- Adobe Acrobat Pro/Reader: PDF and PDX's - when it cannot maintain association or when Chrome downloads PDFs and opens this can lead to file extension association to Chrome vs Acrobat (a common example).
- Photos (win10) / Photos (macOS): jpegs, png's, Gifs all should open up in the respect OS' app. execute a file (traditional file system users) then the associated app opens.
- same with .xls/.xlsx (Excel), .doc/.docx (Word), .txt (Notepad or TextEdit) ...
you get the idea here.
In end users' world and VERY often in corporations ... when files are lost and users (most over 25yrs today) go looking for a folder, sub-folder, sub-sub(x10) folder where it is. Now THESE users do NOT remember the file name - they know what it looks like (characters in file name but mostly by association of WHERE it is when using file system).
Yet when the file is GONE or the FOLDER is GONE ... it's jUMP how high and panic where is this file/folder.
The content of what is IN the folder or the file itself is WHAT a person is AFTER! IF the file moves BUT the association of the file type to open in an app does not change then such app can be used to search for it without the file system - this is why on macOS X and now macOS since has universal search from MACH-BSD kernel. You search for the file name and bingo doesn't matter where it moved (even if on file shares or over internet - if you accessed it before and are connected bingo you can search and open it).
Now in Windows ... LMAO file indexing is a joke and a huge plague. BUT if you're after a .docx or .xlsx then the respect app (word or excel) will have a cached remembrance in the side panel so that you can open it. THIS breaks in Windows IF the file has moved it's location. This is where the File System can NOT be a good thing.
Most youth under 25y today - unless they did compsci course or used file systems don't even understand what a file folder is. nor a file share. again if not comp-sci course, or used file systems heavily (especially in a corporate setting) ... the file folder is a reference to a physical file folder (and the concept comes from folders in a filing cabinet). Even the folder icon on All computer OS' reference a file folder - most 25yrs or younger don't even know what a folder or filing cabinet is. Now introduced file folder permissions after teaching a filing cabinet concept is where file folders comes from and you'll likely confuse the typical younger user.
here is a really common example yet within an app:
Outlook.
Microsoft specifically states on their support pages NOT to use Outlook as a filing system! Yet EVERY corporate user, regardless of industry USES Outlook exactly that way.
planed use: User wants to move a folder containing emails related to a specific top/from a specific team/person into another folder within Outlook.
action: user uses drag & drop
occurs: user accidentally (or not paying attention, etc) drops the folder into another and the user is confused, lost and panics.
Q? : Did the user try using Outlook's search for the folder or anything related to anything within that folder? (think: sender, subject, content of the body of any email in that folder, or even the folder name)
A?: I'll bet in this example 9.5/10 said user did NOT!
Proper Use: user should have used the 'Move' function in the ribbon of outlook to ensure no accidental move locations would happen.
> instead the user will go looking for help or contact support to help them. That is just within an APP that uses a filing system within it.
yes there are use cases where access to a file system works - especially when bulk renaming file names or having to backup a folder on the device to a cloud storage system, and more. BUT for a very portable and small computing devices ... iPad and iPhone - Apple has correctly chosen NOT to use that system:
- users will brick and over flood support lines.
- support will need to document and train all typical scenarios to mitigate issues and solve them.
