I've seen this Scopeware mentioned in articles form time to time, and I never saw any real advantage to its approach. What it seems to do can be done within the desktop metaphor. And it can be done better IMO.

Take something like [link|http://www.be.com/documentation/User's%20Guide/01_basics/Basics05_Finding.html|BeOS Query Folders] and combine it with the list/preview pane layout that most popular email clients use and you'd have a more efficient ([link|http://www.scopeware.com/products/products_whatis.htm|look] at the waste of space in Scopeware) and familiar interface to the same functionality. Plus you could sort by arbitrary attributes; not just chronological order.

Plus its too proprietary.

[Oops. Forgot to add the following]

There is so much more that can still be done with the desktop metaphor. What I want is more folders and more icons.

I want smart folders where I can assign arbitrary actions/programs to events like drop-in, drag-out, and file-changed. Yes, I could write a script that monitors a folder for these events, but I want it as a property of the folder, not a standalone program. I want more folder integration like has been available for Windows since 95 (with a butt-ugly API) and like KDE's IOSlaves.

I want to be able to arbitrarily order the contents of a folder in list view by means other than the available attribute columns.

I want to be able to visually and automatically group icons in a folder (Windows XP does this in some places and the API for the icon view control is available to do the same for other purposes).

I want to be able to drop a document icon onto another document icon and have an action triggered. Think of it as an extension of the ability to drop a document icon on another _open_ document.

I want to add arbitrary searchable attributes to folders and files (BeOS had this. Windows as of 2K is going in that direction I think)

I want drag-and-drop installation/uninstallation/relocation of apps. MacOS had/has this. Hell, DOS had it if you slapped a GUI over it. .NET may be trying to get back there with its talk of no registry mods, manifests, and "xcopy" installs. We shall see.

I want (maybe) to have unamed documents, or have duplicate names in a single folder, as long as there is some other way (ie: other file attributes) to differentiate them.

I want my individual emails to be documents so I can route/move/copy them anywhere.

And I want it now. :)

I gave it a "try" years ago at ver 2.0 but some hardware incompatibility ticked me off and I gave up on it; a little too hastily now that I think of it. Its about time I try it again, so I just ordered a copy of eComStation.