[jfengel]

It's not necessarily a bad thing. We have folders and file names because we lacked a search feature. Now if you want "the file where I said X..." you search for X, and there it is. No need to remember where you put it; no need to remember the precise name of it. GMail trained them not to need folders, and I assure you I don't miss them.

If people need folders and file names, they're there. People will rediscover them and reinvent all the techniques we did. But they're also inventing new techniques that fit their workflows. Workflows that are more efficient because they're built around their toolkit, not our toolkit.

Like the toolkit of just doing everything online. I've got Google backing up almost everything I do, faster, cheaper, and better than I can. And available anywhere. Not only is it there if I lose my laptop, it's there if I left it at home and want to use my phone, or somebody else's computer.

Different times call for different mechanisms. They'll take time to shake out, see what survives and what doesn't. But things they don't learn aren't necessarily signs of weakness. They may be signs of new strengths.