If I remember correctly, it was a regular folder with a special icon. The intention was that you could drag&drop it to some removable media to move between computers.
I guess MS envisioned it as a digital replacement for the physical suitcase of documents you’d bring to/from work.
Furthermore, this “digital replacement” strategy can be seen in other (now mostly defunct) MS programs such as that program that was bundled with windows 3.11 ( I think it was called wincard.exe) that mimiced a rolodex.
I’ll take my MCSE now, thank you.
EDIT: Seems there was some sync stuff with it as well. I’ll settle for some junior certification, thank you.
It was more than just a special icon for a folder, it had special behaviour too. Without looking it up (in the spirit of the meme), I seem to remember that it would automatically sync the files any time that you insert the floppy disk, kind of like having Dropbox but without the internet. The idea being that you would have files on your computer that you could take with you somewhere else (in your briefcase, on a floppy disk) and all instances of that briefcase would automatically sync the latest updates of the files without you having to manually copy them and work out which was the latest version of a file.
I think it was very slightly more than a regular folder in that there was a sync wizard IIRC.
I think you set it up with a piece of removable media and then you could press the sync button when it was present to take the newest file from either the removable media or the local disk. I also vaguely remember a conflict resolution screen where if both copies had changed you could keep one, the other or both. I’m trying to remember if you could have a 3-point sync where you used the removable media as a way of keeping the briefcase on your home and work computers in sync, but I never used that feature if it did exist.
So yeah, It didn’t do much more than just dragging and dropping (as I think the OS dialog had similar conflict resolution at least from windows 98ish) but the two way aspect was pretty useful.
I completely changed my mind on this a bunch of years ago when I did a lot of work with LDAP. “Directory” may have seemed a good choice at the time, but now we have so many things which are directories and fit the IRL definition better, to look up information. Meanwhile “folders” fit the IRL definition better, for things that contain and organize files
At this point they’re both used so interchangeably it doesn’t matter, honestly. “Directory” is going to keep slipping out for me because it’s grandfathered in, but I genuinely don’t even keep track of which one I use more frequently or which platforms use one or the other in their messaging.
Go back 40/50 years, and most people then thought of directories as an index (see telephone directory), and folders were thing that contained/were files within a filing cabinet.
I still have a hard time calling them folders, it gives me a little eye twitch to say “folder”, though I know the icon is a folder, and it makes it easier for the average person to grok.
I’ll load it up occasionally just to revisit. Conceptually interesting, just God awful implementation.
Norton Desktop was a GUI to replace Windows Program Manager in Win 3.1/NT 3.51 in the early 90’s that had a Desktop concept (Windows 95 looked much like it), though it had some Bob-like functionality if I remember right.
If I remember correctly, it was a regular folder with a special icon. The intention was that you could drag&drop it to some removable media to move between computers.
I guess MS envisioned it as a digital replacement for the physical suitcase of documents you’d bring to/from work.
Furthermore, this “digital replacement” strategy can be seen in other (now mostly defunct) MS programs such as that program that was bundled with windows 3.11 ( I think it was called wincard.exe) that mimiced a rolodex.
I’ll take my MCSE now, thank you.
EDIT: Seems there was some sync stuff with it as well. I’ll settle for some junior certification, thank you.
It was more than just a special icon for a folder, it had special behaviour too. Without looking it up (in the spirit of the meme), I seem to remember that it would automatically sync the files any time that you insert the floppy disk, kind of like having Dropbox but without the internet. The idea being that you would have files on your computer that you could take with you somewhere else (in your briefcase, on a floppy disk) and all instances of that briefcase would automatically sync the latest updates of the files without you having to manually copy them and work out which was the latest version of a file.
I’d give you both the award.
I think it was very slightly more than a regular folder in that there was a sync wizard IIRC.
I think you set it up with a piece of removable media and then you could press the sync button when it was present to take the newest file from either the removable media or the local disk. I also vaguely remember a conflict resolution screen where if both copies had changed you could keep one, the other or both. I’m trying to remember if you could have a 3-point sync where you used the removable media as a way of keeping the briefcase on your home and work computers in sync, but I never used that feature if it did exist.
So yeah, It didn’t do much more than just dragging and dropping (as I think the OS dialog had similar conflict resolution at least from windows 98ish) but the two way aspect was pretty useful.
Yep - it kept files in sync.
I never used it, though I always thought it was useful idea. Not sure how problematic it could be how did it handle collisions?)
The “digital replacement” nonsense is also why we now have “folders” instead of “directories”. This thing gave me so many awkward flashbacks.
I completely changed my mind on this a bunch of years ago when I did a lot of work with LDAP. “Directory” may have seemed a good choice at the time, but now we have so many things which are directories and fit the IRL definition better, to look up information. Meanwhile “folders” fit the IRL definition better, for things that contain and organize files
At this point they’re both used so interchangeably it doesn’t matter, honestly. “Directory” is going to keep slipping out for me because it’s grandfathered in, but I genuinely don’t even keep track of which one I use more frequently or which platforms use one or the other in their messaging.
Go back 40/50 years, and most people then thought of directories as an index (see telephone directory), and folders were thing that contained/were files within a filing cabinet.
I still have a hard time calling them folders, it gives me a little eye twitch to say “folder”, though I know the icon is a folder, and it makes it easier for the average person to grok.
Fuck the icon. You don’t
mkfoldyoumkdir. You don’tcfyoucd. They’re obviously directories.Lol, preach!
Meanwhile apple tells you to put your removable media in the trash.
That always bothered me, from the start.
“Apple is more intuitive” oh really?
Briefcase cased, so SyncThing could sync.
Lol, nice.
Offline Files is essentially the same functionality as the briefcase (no idea if it’s the same code).
You mentioned wincard, but you didn’t mention Bob. If you don’t know about it, you should really look.
I have a copy. So, so, so, so awful
Yeah, but I love that it exists. I also have a copy.
I full agreement.
I’ll load it up occasionally just to revisit. Conceptually interesting, just God awful implementation.
Norton Desktop was a GUI to replace Windows Program Manager in Win 3.1/NT 3.51 in the early 90’s that had a Desktop concept (Windows 95 looked much like it), though it had some Bob-like functionality if I remember right.
skeuomorphism
TIL…