i think it would be possible, and might be interesting, to do a file
system type (or types) that did better what these things are trying
to do.
    

One piece of work in this area is VESTA:
 http://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/DEC/SRC/technical-notes/SRC-1999-001.pdf
 http://www.research.compaq.com/SRC/vesta
  

-- 
Wes Kussmaul
CIO
The Village Group
738 Main Street
Waltham, MA 02451

781-647-7178


My uncle likes to say that the world’s biggest troubles started when the serpent said, “Try this fruit, and by the way if a bunch of people collectively calling themselves Arthur Andersen signs something it’s the same as if a person named Arthur Andersen signed it.” I don’t get the serpent and fruit part. Must be some Swiss mythology thing. He can be a bit obscure. 

                         P.K. Iggy
                         _How I Like Fixed The Internet_
                           (Tales from the Great Infodepression of 2009
                           and the prosperity that followed)