Spotlight for SkyOS
Check out the latest news headline on
http://www.skyos.org/
This is a "hobby OS" gotten out of hand. It has been developed by one man, and lately joined by other software developers (check http://www.skyos.org/team.php).
Although the OS doesn't look as good as MacOS, and surely will lack functionality for a mainstream OS as MacOSX, it is amazing what they have achieved in such short notice, which such a small team.
Now they've added their own "Spotlight" which basicly does the same thing as Apple's version.
Unfortunately, both the SkyOS and MacOSX solution are not as elegant as BeOS solution where the attribute/query stuff is done in the filesystem (and was available years ago). MacOS Spotlight "just" indexes files where BeOS BeFS really saves the attributes/metadata INSIDE the filesystem. Even the indexing, to speed it all up, is done inside BeFS. When you would copy a file from computer A to B (both BeOS running computers), you would keep the attribute information with copying info.
This not a BeOS promo or something, or a MacOSX hate-mail, I just wanted to point out that it's not so special as Apple wants you to believe. It's mostly marketing, which is cool, because now so much people use MacOS :-)
http://www.skyos.org/
This is a "hobby OS" gotten out of hand. It has been developed by one man, and lately joined by other software developers (check http://www.skyos.org/team.php).
Although the OS doesn't look as good as MacOS, and surely will lack functionality for a mainstream OS as MacOSX, it is amazing what they have achieved in such short notice, which such a small team.
Now they've added their own "Spotlight" which basicly does the same thing as Apple's version.
Unfortunately, both the SkyOS and MacOSX solution are not as elegant as BeOS solution where the attribute/query stuff is done in the filesystem (and was available years ago). MacOS Spotlight "just" indexes files where BeOS BeFS really saves the attributes/metadata INSIDE the filesystem. Even the indexing, to speed it all up, is done inside BeFS. When you would copy a file from computer A to B (both BeOS running computers), you would keep the attribute information with copying info.
This not a BeOS promo or something, or a MacOSX hate-mail, I just wanted to point out that it's not so special as Apple wants you to believe. It's mostly marketing, which is cool, because now so much people use MacOS :-)
Comments
Originally posted by dacloo
Unfortunately, both the SkyOS and MacOSX solution are not as elegant as BeOS solution where the attribute/query stuff is done in the filesystem (and was available years ago).
Actually, SkyOS DOES do this within the file system. The file system for SkyOS, SkyFS, was built off of the OpenBFS, which itself was designed to completely mimic the BFS.
The attribute/meta data features in SkyOS will take what BeOS had and expand it to everything BeOS could have been.
Originally posted by Kickaha
And, the metadata *IS* stored in the file in MacOS X. Spotlight is just the indexing portion. Where do you think Spotlight got the metadata *from*?
You are mistaken. I am talking about the file system, not the file itself. Those are two very different things! Ofcourse, the metadata must be extracted from something , but the difference with MacOS and BeOS (and Hexidus said also SkyOS) is that MacOS doesn't keep attributes and metadata inside the filesystem.
I think MacOS will support this in the future though, it's a logical next step.
What I'm saying is that Apple can shout whatever they want, but it's nothing new or revolutionairy, especially when considering a hobby OS has the same feature already, but implemented it better.
Originally posted by dacloo
What I'm saying is that Apple can shout whatever they want, but it's nothing new or revolutionairy, especially when considering a hobby OS has the same feature already, but implemented it better.
So just because some hobby OS has a feature Apple can't tell about the features in Mac OS X? It's still new to Mac OS X and is marketed as such.
It still searches faster and better than anything before Spotlight on Mac - and to make changes onto the filesystem would require that users reformat their drives. It's much easier to make big changes on a system used by geeks that don't mind a reformat.
Furthermore it seems to be based on OpenBFS which means the have the hooks not available in the much older HFS format.
It's not that Apple can do it - they even have the maker of BFS on the team.
Originally posted by dacloo
You are mistaken. I am talking about the file system, not the file itself. Those are two very different things! Ofcourse, the metadata must be extracted from something , but the difference with MacOS and BeOS (and Hexidus said also SkyOS) is that MacOS doesn't keep attributes and metadata inside the filesystem.
man xattr
I am not mistaken.
Seriously, think about it for a second. Where would the file attributes and metadata be stored if *not* in the filesystem? Rip Spotlight out, they're still there. Send the file to someone else, they're still there. They are *with the file* which means... ta-da! In the filesystem.
I think MacOS will support this in the future though, it's a logical next step.
Yes, yes it was.
What you are attempting to say, I believe, is that the *query* engine is not in the filesystem, and on that you'd be correct. Spotlight reads the file to extract developer defined data, and also gathers up the metadata associated with the file (*from* the filesystem), and then creates an index file external to the filesystem. The indexed storage is not in the filesystem, nor is the query engine... but the original metadata and attributes *are*.
I am not mistaken.
Seriously, think about it for a second. Where would the file attributes and metadata be stored if *not* in the filesystem? Rip Spotlight out, they're still there. Send the file to someone else, they're still there. They are *with the file* which means... ta-da! In the filesystem.
Yes, I ment that the query engine in MacOS searches inside files, not the filesystem. As far as I know, Spotlight indexes all the stuff to a big file, which can be queried by the user/
From Macintouch:
Spotlight uses a constantly-updated database, and results begin to appear as soon as you type. Within a few seconds, a full set of results shows. But what about that database? Doesn't updating it slow down your Mac, like it did in Mac OS 8? In our experience, it doesn't.
When a file is saved to disk, Tiger fires off a tiny program that reads and indexes the file. The user never sees this, and it happens in the background. (Of course, such a program could take excess CPU time and slow you down; Apple warns developers of Spotlight plug-ins to make sure their plug-ins are tiny and fast.)
The very good news (quoted from battellemedia.com):
It's worth pointing out that Spotlight is in many ways a continuation/extension of the database-like properties that were built into BeOS more than a decade ago. It was difficult at the time to explain to non-BeOS users just how profoundly those abilities changed the way people went about their daily work, but I think Apple has the media weight to make the case. The chief developers of the Be File System and The Tracker (BeOS' file manager) are now chief developers for HFS+ and The Finder, so I see Spotlight as an evolution of these aspects of BeOS. It will be wonderful to be using them again.