> You still need a BMP editor to put anything meaningful in there. The same is true for a PowerPoint presentation, and an Access database. Although, creating an empty Access database and then opening it will presumably get you the Access program. But if I want to create a new PowerPoint presentation, I will… um… open PowerPoint
I think that really highlights the paradigm-shift that happened in UX in the last decade - what you could call "documents-centric" vs "application-centric".
Until recently, UI was centered around files. You used programs to edit and manage those files, but the programs didn't "own" the files: A file was generally independent of the programs that are used to open them. On the other side, a program does not "know" about a file until you explicitly prompt the program to open the file.
Compare that to the "application-centric" paradigm that dominates on the web, in mobile OSes and recently in desktop OSes as well: Here a program "owns" its data and you are supposed to interact with the data only through the program. It's an implementation detail how the data is physically stored - but from the user's PoV, there is no unified file system. Instead, the assets managed by each program are living in separate universes.
I think that really highlights the paradigm-shift that happened in UX in the last decade - what you could call "documents-centric" vs "application-centric".
Until recently, UI was centered around files. You used programs to edit and manage those files, but the programs didn't "own" the files: A file was generally independent of the programs that are used to open them. On the other side, a program does not "know" about a file until you explicitly prompt the program to open the file.
Compare that to the "application-centric" paradigm that dominates on the web, in mobile OSes and recently in desktop OSes as well: Here a program "owns" its data and you are supposed to interact with the data only through the program. It's an implementation detail how the data is physically stored - but from the user's PoV, there is no unified file system. Instead, the assets managed by each program are living in separate universes.