I would like to see this done well. However, with Apple trying to protect and cater to the "every-day user", I wonder if we will ever see something like this, because of the security implications that come with it.
It's a fallacy that the every-day user doesn't want or need a filesystem.
They do need a filesystem and interoperable components. What they do NOT need is a hierarchical based filesystem that limits you to a directory trees. It's an organizational nightmare, and unless you've ever used git before it's a literal hell for the average user.
Instead, a flat filesystem with smart names, tagging, and metadata is the way forward. Subdirectories will be relegated to those who want them.
As for security, that excuse is nonexistent when Apple has the final authority to application interoperability and analysis. If an implementation is flawed, they can reject it at will and tell the developers to improve it.
I agree. I was just trying to imagine what Apple's will do since they have been trying for years to eliminate the file system for the every-day user, even on OSX (iTunes, iPhoto, Notes, etc.)
I operate on a basis that the effort required of me is somewhat proportional to the resources of a potential attacker, so I don't worry enormously about whether I'm keeping my traffic secure from the US government - given an adequate budget and a focus, they can conceivably monitor all inbound and outbound traffic from any commercial VPN provider's connection points. I advise non-technical people much the same way - it's easy to keep Susie Snoopy and the Casually Curious out, harder but not much so for someone targeting you for espionage or investigation (corporate or personal) and I just assume and advise that any kind of government investigation is going to get your info even if it's just by brute-forcing passwords.
On that basis of protecting against the casually snoopy and non-targeted monitoring, I use PIA - I can connect 3 devices to it at once (phone, tablet, laptop), I can use multiple exit points though I mostly haven't needed to, it's simple to use, inexpensive, and the technology they support seems to be at least up to standard. It's also been useful in a couple of cases where I wanted to test connections to a network from outside that network - tunneling my traffic out and letting it come back in is handy, and the international endpoints let you test functionality that restricts connections based on country of origin.
If you're using a small hosting provider you may also be able to do tunneling through them, but ask first - when I was using a Linux laptop and my phone was rooted, I was using SSH tunneling through my hosting company instead because my traffic levels were insignificant compared to my monthly traffic allocation. I could certainly do the same things again, but quite frankly I'd rather just pay the $40/year or so for a drop-in solution that I don't have to spend time dinking around with.
I don't know how to evaluate its trustworthiness, but I use PIA too and like it. Quite fast, servers in many countries, and support for L2TP (so you can use it in Android without a client -- though they provide one).
