[Update: If you're looking to get rid of MyWay or MyWebSearch, click here - I have finally crumbled under the weight of all the search referrals from people trying to get rid of these awful programs.  I hope this helps. - G]

Andy Hopper says, "Use WinFS as an excuse to get rid of filename extensions!"  I say, but what about Windows98?

Andy believes that we should shed the old DOS-like method of using extensions to determine file type, and just tack on a “filetype” metadata field in WinFS.  He goes on to explain that it would still be backward compatible because Longhorn could gracefully recover from the absense of a “filetype” entry and use the extension to determine type.  That's great for legacy applications running on Longhorn, but what about the myriad of files that will be created on Longhorn apps and sent off to people using legacy operating systems?

They'd be left in the cold, really.  Backward compatible is a two-way street, and there really isn't any way to go back.  Remember BillG's keynote?  Visicalc running inside of Longhorn... pretty cool.  If, through some horrible twist of fate you found yourself using Visicalc on Longhorn, God help you if you can't save your spreadsheet and send it to the putz that forced you to use it to begin with.

Andy's on the right track though.  We need to be thinking as far out of the box as we can get to really wrap our heads around what WinFS (and Avalon, and Indigo) can do that hasn't been done before.  I've been focusing my efforts around the collaboration features in the shell, and I keep hitting up against the lack of Aero-based bits; hopefully it won't be too long before more of the underlying Aero (or is it AERO?) functionality makes it into the betas.

- G

P.S. Yes, the blogroll is a mile long... isn't everybody's?