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Should "B" be the Same as "b"?
joshua42 asks: "Although having used Linux and FreeBSD for many years, I have yet to come
across anyone seriously questioning the traditional UNIX style file system name paradigm. With an Amiga background (It should be the same for people growing up with Windows, or those growing up with no computer at all (God forbid!).) it took me quite a while to get used to 'A' and 'a' being treated as different characters. This is of course fairly easy to accept and to understand if you have a technical background. I do however
have a hard time to see how aunt Ginny will ever be able to distinguish between her 'Letter.txt', 'LETTER.TXT' and 'letter.txt' files. In real life, upper and lower case letters represents almost identical information to most people. Has any thoughts been spent on this issue, now that our
favorite OS is becoming increasingly mainstream? Does it need to be
addressed? Have any attempts been done? What are the implications to parts outside the file systems?" This is an interesting point. As Unix grows more and more popular, the simple things we've taken for granted about the filesystem may stand in the way of general users adopting it. What ways can you think of that will mitigate this problem for new Linux users without actually affecting too much? Special shells for novice users, that can simplify much of the complexity may be the way to go, here.
This is a flamebait topic.
Why don't we ask: "Should the convention for tapping threads in metal be switched to left hand threads by default?"
Nothing will change as a result of the discussion, and nothing should change. It's the 'simplify UNIX and destroy it in the process' arguement all over again.
Good grief.
What is confusing is that "A" and "a" don't sort next to each other -- so, letter.txt doesn't end up following Letter.txt, but instead is down somewhere past Zebra.jpg. That defies reason; if something is to be fixed, let it be that.
Subscribers can see articles in the future? So what? Everyone gets to see them in the future.
The only reason why Unix is case sensitive is because it was easier, and faster to implement it as such in the early days.
It is not quite efficient to Preserve Case, and not make it case-sensitive.
I used a file system like this (HPFS) for many years and much prefer it over the case-sensitive alternatives.
It is also a security concern. If I have 2 files, which are identical except for case it is possible I could run the wrong one. Why? Point and Click interfaces barely show a difference between o and O, etc.
There is also no need for 2 files with the same name, and different case when it comes to SOURCE CODE. I have seen more than 1 program implemented like this and it is downright confusing and stupid. " No no, not "ubergeek.c", "Ubergeek.c"... etc.
Garbage. Crap. Total waste of resources.
I've been working in a database language that is case-insensitive for a number of years as well. It is damn nice to not have to worry about somebody typing something in differently than expected. It isn't a problem. And I don't have to call UPPER every time I do something!
case-sensitive is a pain in the ass.
Back to the main topic, I agree with Apple's position on this. I used to wonder why they would put in such a ridiculous limitation when it would be so easy to "fix," but then I thought about it. There is absolutely no reason to have files named "readme.txt" and "Readme.txt" in the same directory. If they are truly different files, then name them differently - ie, "ReadmeFirst.txt" and "ReadmeLast.txt." Capitalization is mostly arbitrary and conveys no information in this context. It can only lead to confusion when a human has to interact with such files. Sort of like George Foreman's house, where his kids are named george, GEORGE, GeorgE, georgE, GeOrGe, etc. What a mess!
If you're still not convinced, think of all the chaos and confusion that would happen if domain names were case sensitive.
Say hello to zMac.
It's not like your aunt is going to use Emacs - she'll just point and click with whatever graphical software she is using.
Leave case sensitivity alone - it's the right thing to do, just hide any ease-of-use problems it may introduce with a GUI.
That keeps the smart people happy, and the dumb people happy. We're all happy!
Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.
"You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocketship underpants don't help" -- Calvin
People are not very sensitive at all to upper/lowercase letters.
lEt ME asK yOu OnE thiNG jOUNI, arE yOu aBSoLuTElY SURe abOuT thAt?
I know for sure that I am sensitive about it, and it really gets on my nerves when they're not used properly. Of course, people are different, but most [non 1337 script kiddies] people do care...
May we live long and die out