Tags>Files?

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gentrone wrote on 2011-02-01 10:31

I've been playing around with the revamped Google Docs for a while now. They added a new feature called 'collections' which basically is a tag system. They work the same way as files, except that you can include any document in several collections at once if needed (just like regular tags). These collections can be nested, just like labels in gmail, so they work like a file tree as well.

[Image: http://cdn.techtavy.com/images/gmail7.png]

Once all your documents have been tagged (added to collections) you can pretty much filter them as you please and know their 'directory' the whole time. It's pretty much like Libraries in Win7.

The best part is that you can share collections. Say you wanted to share a couple of files from school and work to your brother... using Windows, or any 'traditional' OS, the usual would be creating a new directory (or zip file) called 'Brother' and mail it to him. Well with collections you can simply add a a new tag to these files and share the collection right away, no need to copy and paste or waste space and time!

[Image: http://i.imgur.com/KIO70.png]

I guess my point is that tags are better than files in many ways, they make information easier to manage and share. What do you think? Is this the future of computing? Tags are commonly used in internet services but not so much in file management, I think it should change.
Phunkie wrote on 2011-02-01 11:43

I heard this tag system is excellent for organizing files. Kitae's been talking about wanting it for Windows (or a better version?). No idea.
Mystickskye wrote on 2011-02-05 02:27

I've been clamouring for more emphasis on tags in more software for a while. Especially when you have programs which you can use to edit the file's tags but then the program itself won't work with the tags at all.

I think it's powerful with a high degree of flexibility given you can customise tags and so it has meaning on a personal level to you. There's no reasonable limit to tags so an individual file can be marked with several important markers (try doing that with a file name -_-;) and it'll eventually come down to a filtering system that you can manage and run with ease. Viva la Tags~