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Google Desktop was indeed a great solution partially solving the tag problem in Windows. A good tagging system trumps search as you can make the results much better determinate. The ability to create your own namespace and then organize every file into that namespace ensures encapsulation. In a search result, you almost always have to filter out irrelevant items.

Good working search solves the problem pragmatically though :)

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I am far too lazy to tag every file and I would despise such a system if forced into it. Some files I want to keep realizing I may never need them again. Tagging is a time waste. It's also difficult to anticipate future use and what tags are helpful.

Now a tagging system that could be built over time from search results could be very useful. Apply tags as you go in batches in other words to aid future searches.

If I were designing a new OS, I'd force each piece of software to auto-tag and index the file contents in meta tags and feed it to a global OS search function.

You assume that you need to tag manually. You assume that you are forced to do so. Currently, it's perfectly possible to put all files in a single folder. Your OS will be happy about that (except maybe some technical limitation of max filecount of a folder).

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