#5348 NORM Future : etoys overwrites existing journal entries

[Eben Eliason]

>  So the difference would be that a media viewer that is allowed to "open" a
>  file must only retain references to the original media instead of copying?
>  Until very recently, references from one datastore object (the saved
>  activity state) to other objects (the media) was dismissed as unnecessary.
>  Has that position changed?

I don't think it has anything to do with references.  If a media
player opens a movie, for instance, it will likely just store some
data such as the current timecode, but yes, if it did in fact change
the video, I would expect it to make a copy.

The difference here is still one of filetype.  If I open a .jpg with
Paint, scribble all over it, and save it out, at least every activity
that could open that file before still can, regardless of the fact
that the image isn't the same.  If I "open" a jpg with Write and wind
up with a .odt file that contains an image, then I can no longer open
that image in Paint.  Activities should "play nice" with files,
ensuring that their type remains constant across opens/edits unless
explicitly told otherwise via importing a document into their own
format or a "keep as...some other type" operation.

- Eben