Re: Amazing... But also a bit stupid
>I propose that the concept of a filesystem, of files, of disks, of secondary storage, is an unnecessary hangover of 1960s designs, and we can do away with it now.
What is a file?
A file I suggest is simply a wrapper around a data structure turning it into a location-independent object - so it can be moved and another application or system can look at it and select the right tools to unpack and manipulate the data structure within it. Optane doesn't remove the need to move objects between systems or even applications running on the same system (remember iOS allows files to be transferred to other applications, so the user can decide whether a 'book' is opened in iBooks or some other reader application).
How those files are stored is an implementation matter, Write on iOS for example, presents me with its views of the documents I've been working on, I the user don't know how these documents are mapped on to the storage (although the Files app does give a filesystem view of these files/objects). However, this does constrain useabliilty. For example a project will have files distributed across multiple applications, with a filesystem (or document management system) it is easy to group these files together into a project.
What is secondary storage?
I suggest it is simply a repository for files (with a DB being a particular branch of the file system). Putting encryption to one side, secondary storage is also largely machine-independent and transportable. The question is if an Optane memory module was so configured (ie. removable and readable in another system) would it be classified as secondary storage?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
