Libraries as Super Folders

The application layer that  you see when using a computer has evolved and improved tremendously over the past thirty years.  Modern application layers involve multimedia presentation of information, dynamic generation of content, and interoperability and integration between applications like never before.

Operating systems have similarly evolved and improved over the years.  Operating systems feature plug-and-play extensibility that really works, the ability to heal and recover from failures, advanced network awareness, and an unprecedented level of stability.

The odd thing is that between these rapidly improving layers we are still using the "C:\ wave your left leg in the air" method of saving and accessing files.  Directories and subdirectories date back to the 1980s and the introduction of the Apple III.  When the Mac came out the directories were rechristened as "folders" and clever icons were added to their representation.  Oddly enough that is where things ended.

With SharePoint it is as if Microsoft decided that it was time to rethink the whole "folder thing" and come up with something better suited to life in the 21st century.  When I ask my workshop participants to brainstorm a "magic folder" to replace the oldfangled Windows folders, they usually come up with a pretty impressive list of ideal features:

1. Virtualized.  Why should I have to know physically where I put my folder?  I don't have to physically track things on the Internet, I just search and download.  I give no thought to the kind of computer I'm talking to or where it is located.  Search, find, get.  Why can't I have that same freedom with my own files.
2. Secure.  I would want the magic folder to be able to manage security and tailor information to the user depending on the user's permissions and privileges.
3. Findable.  Not a real word, but you know what I mean.  If I put something in a magic folder I want to be able to find it again.
4. Version Control. I want it to automatically take care of version management.
5. Review and Approval.  I want my magic folder to have a built in process for gaining approval and publishing documents.
6. Navigation Aware.  I want my magic folders to be aware of other folders and be able to navigate from one to the other.
7. Email and RSS Enabled.  I want to be able to email stuff to the magic folder and subscribe to it.  Any folder any where.
8. Web enabled.  I want to be able to use anything in a magic folder over the web with no monkeying around.

In the workshop I then cross out the phrase "magic folder" and put in SharePoint Library.  That is essentially what a SharePoint library is... a next generation superfolder.