git-annex provides file tagging, and tag-based views materialized as filesystem checkouts a git-based data store.

I agree with the conclusion that hierarchies and letting users put things in places is good, but I want to posit a more nuanced explanation than "we are set in our ways".

I think sometimes we don't remember what exactly it is we're looking for. We may not have a word, or a name, or date. But if we put it some place in particular we can find it spatially rather than linguistically.

This is why I think labels are superior to hierarchies. When we transcend the limitations of physical space would should not throw out space, but we should throw away the constraints of 3D space with its contiguous, volumetric forms. Labels let you put things in as many places as you like. Labels can, too, be hierarchical.

The problem with the current crop of systems that eschew hierarchy is that they replace it with a text box.

One could make the argument that smart indexing is just automatic labeling, but I think there's a memory function in having created the labels oneself.

I'd like to see systems that experiment with more ways to fold space. Shortcuts are like wormholes. Maybe we should have common actions for creating bi-directional ones. On mobile devices I think we should take more advantage of zooming and z-planes.

Does this really mean to suggest that Aerospike bypasses the linux block device layer? Is there a kernel driver? Does this mean I can't use any filesystem I want and know how to administrate? Is the claim that the "linux file system" (which I take to mean, I guess, the virtual file system layer) "built for rotation drives" even accurate? We've had ram disks for a long, long time. And before that we've had log structured filesystems, too, and even devices that aren't random access like tape drives. Seems like dubious claims all around.

With the advent of Google Docs we're finally moving away from the archaic indexing mentioned here. The filesystem metaphor was simple and dominated how everyone manages their data-- which extended into how we developed web content, as well.

The declaration that Hierarchical File Systems are Dead has led to better systems of tagging and search, but we're still far from where we need to be since there is still a heavy focus on the document as a whole instead of also the content within the document.

The linearity of printed books is even more treacherously entrenched in our minds than the classification systems used by libraries to store those books.

One day maybe we'll liberate every piece of content from every layer of its concentric cages: artificial systems of indexing, books, web pages, paragraphs, even sentences and words themselves. Only then will we be able to re-dress those thoughts automatically into those familiar and comforting forms that keep our thoughts caged.