Someone wrote in ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} alsuren, |
Response from Philosophicles
Afraid I'm not an LJ user, but keen to respond nonetheless. Here goes. I realise the below is broadly OT, but I hope you'll indulge me.
Firstly, I do generally agree with you on all of the Vista-faults-that-*nix-doesn't-have points. I'd mainly like to point out that 3) has been that way since Win95. It's just how Windows *is*. I agree it's a bit crap, and it caused me to end up with a set-up based around c:\ rather than a subfolder for users, which I've never got around to fixing. However, it is very possible to rename your docs folder, and the default program installation directory, to something of your choice: I forget exactly where in XP, and it's probably different in Vista, but it WILL be possible.
There's also a contradiction when you say:
"it's also suitably ambiguous that it invites itself to become a dumping
ground of all the rubbish", and
"4 locations for commonly used applications, so users can always find
the application they're looking for"
It does IMO make sense to have all programs in one folder. Windows treats it differently, and AV software normally knows that it's the main executable-full directory, and you then know even better than under unix
where your programs are.
Fundamentally, it's also the fault of 3rd-party companies that make installers that suggest where you should install the software to, and most users just click ok at each step without caring. Hence you get some stuff at c:\ (TeX, incidentally, which is a Win port of a unix app, forces you to install at c:\) and most in Program Files.
That is all. S
Afraid I'm not an LJ user, but keen to respond nonetheless. Here goes. I realise the below is broadly OT, but I hope you'll indulge me.
Firstly, I do generally agree with you on all of the Vista-faults-that-*nix-doesn't-have points. I'd mainly like to point out that 3) has been that way since Win95. It's just how Windows *is*. I agree it's a bit crap, and it caused me to end up with a set-up based around c:\ rather than a subfolder for users, which I've never got around to fixing. However, it is very possible to rename your docs folder, and the default program installation directory, to something of your choice: I forget exactly where in XP, and it's probably different in Vista, but it WILL be possible.
There's also a contradiction when you say:
"it's also suitably ambiguous that it invites itself to become a dumping
ground of all the rubbish", and
"4 locations for commonly used applications, so users can always find
the application they're looking for"
It does IMO make sense to have all programs in one folder. Windows treats it differently, and AV software normally knows that it's the main executable-full directory, and you then know even better than under unix
where your programs are.
Fundamentally, it's also the fault of 3rd-party companies that make installers that suggest where you should install the software to, and most users just click ok at each step without caring. Hence you get some stuff at c:\ (TeX, incidentally, which is a Win port of a unix app, forces you to install at c:\) and most in Program Files.
That is all. S
