newdocms - FAQ

Written by Manuel Arriaga. (Email address at the bottom of the page.)

This document is meant to answer some frequently asked questions, as well as reply to some frequently made comments (FMC?), which keep showing up in my mailbox. :-)

1. Will newdocms support multiple users?

2. Will newdocms offer a network (web?) interface?

These two goals are outside of the scope of newdocms. Supporting multiple users and offering a network interface are what corporate content management systems offer, and such systems are already widely available. The idea behind newdocms was to give individual users a (little) bit of the power which those systems already provide to large organizations.

3. Shouldn't newdocms be implemented at a lower level?

4. Why don't you try to actually replace the hierarchical file system (HFS)?

These two goals, too, are outside of the scope of the project. The level at which newdocms currently operates (between the HFS and the applications) will allow it to work with (virtually) all user applications. Since

  1. the goal of the project is to make document management easier,
  2. document management is carried out by the user through user applications and
  3. the current system will support virtually all user applications

it results that there wouldn't be any advantages (in terms of functionality) in going to a lower level.

Doing so would also tremendously increase the complexity of the project. Those who, nonetheless, still believe that changing the file system itself is the "right" way to do things should consider contributing to the development of ReiserFS.

5. Will newdocms support command line applications?

Yes. Many seem interested in making newdocms work with CLI apps, so I guess we will end up implementing support for them. Contrary to what many seem to think (after having read the article on the main newdocms page), I am very much a CLI man myself... (Actually, that was the reason why I wrote libtrash).

6. The interface is difficult to use and ugly!

I know! Do you want to help me do something about it? :-)

7. In a HFS it is easier to find often-accessed files.

newdocms offers shortcuts, "simple text strings which act as keys to retrieve often-accessed documents". This mechanism complements the attributes system, and is meant to address precisely that sort of criticism.

8. Using newdocms requires a lot of discipline.

So does a HFS when used right! Just as (in newdocms) you can save a document as "uncatalogued" (ie, no metadata available), you can save all your documents in a HFS under the same directory with irrevelant file names. The result is similar: in both cases it would be just as hard to find what you are looking for. The main difference is that with newdocms the metadata you do provide is much more useful when later you try to find your document.

Manuel Arriaga - Email me at marriaga followed by @ stern . nyu . edu