Implicit search

Implicit search is one of the new features that windows vista and some linux clones (they say they aren't clones) have. The idea is that as you type into a keyboard, the computer auto-detects when you have typed important (meaningful i supppose) keywords, and then applies a search to that. This seems just to be a version of lazy searching to me - where a search function is applied lazily to a word stream. So as you type, these words are automatically searched and the results displayed (or viewed) for you. As you can see, the concept of a viewer is very useful here, as we do not actually want many files opening, but rather to see them.

Another interesting feature is the smart folder idea used in Mac and the windows vista clone (they say they aren't clones). The idea is that a search query can be saved, and then used just as you would a normal folder. I suppose this goes to the concept of first-class objects, and all this is doing is making a search query a first class object which can be viewered as the results of the search. With appropriate system level hooks, this operation takes constant time. (if u hash). That also links to another point of my idea, where the entire operating system is just a really cool hash function, but that is another story.