In the computer world we carry on with these underlying assumptions and rarely question them. Making such change will be a mamouth task for sure, and any change would have to allow for a transition. By acknowleding that a file has many names would we be freeing ourselves from a huge constraint on the way we work with our information?
Whilst I'm not proposing that I have the solution, I'm hoping you will question some fundamental assumptions which have been adhered to by the IT community as if they were sacrosanct. If computers are to be used by non-technical users as a tool of their trade then the interface should fit with their model of the world, not with a model that suits the computer.
Thank you for listening.