On 3/16/06 18:36, "Entourage:mac Talk" <[email protected]> wrote:
> But that's not true at all. ~/Library is not just "settings"; it's also > valuable data, as anyone who has forgotten to back up ~/Library and lost > important data can tell you. Examples: > > Mail email If you use Entourage, this isn't an issue. > Browser bookmarks True, but that's configurable in browsers that aren't Safari. > Address Book contacts Only if you use Address Book > Calendars Only if you use iCal > iWeb sites Again, only if you use that application, and in the last three examples, why is user created data outside of the Documents directory? > Pretty much every database-type of personal data (user data for > apps such as DEVONthink, Delicious Library, iBlog, NetNewsWire, > iSync) Again, why is user created data, not settings, but data, outside of the documents directory? > > I think you'll agree that these are more than just "convenient" data and > "stupid computer settings," and that losing it would indeed "make existing > work go buh-bye" ;-) Actually, only if you use those applications. If you use others that don't put user-generated data, aka *documents* in random places, then it's less of an issue. > > (And it's fair to say that settings, custom dictionaries, saved games, > plug-ins, templates, etc. are just as valuable to many users as their Word > documents.) Forgive me if someone's saved games aren't a high priority on my corporate backup schedule ;-), and even in a home situation, a saved game is a user document, put it in the Documents folder. I didn't say settings, etc., weren't important *at all*, but Documents are far MORE important. Recreating a custom dictionary is tedious. Losing critical changes to a document is much worse. >> As well, who creates the data in the E'rage database? Someone else? An as of >> yet unknown process? No, the *human* creates the data in that database. By >> that definition, it's a document. It's not a setting. It's not a preference. >> It is user created data, and user manipulated data, and just like a >> photoshop file, that makes it a document. > > By that argument, a significant proportion of data in ~/Library is also a > "document" -- it's created by the user, after all. The key here, and one > made clearly by Apple, is that ~/Documents is for data users create > *directly*: They open an application, create a new document, and then > explicitly save that document. ~/Library is the official location for data > users create *indirectly*: application settings, "database"-type data (Mail > email, the Entourage database, address book contacts, bookmarks, etc.), and > anything else not directly created by the user. That's silly. What other kind of document CAN you create from a database application? PNG's? What, Apple now tells me what my data is and is not? A database that would not exist without my working on it, FileMaker, Oracle, or Address Book, is a *user document* as much as any Photoshop or Aperature file. If it's a file containing data that I directly manipulate via the program to get work done, it's a document. Pedanticism about "JPEGs are documents but databases are not" is just silly. You don't directly create that AAC file. Itunes does at your behest, just like every other application. > > You may disagree with Apple's approach, but it's pretty clear (and, I think, > logical). That doesn't mean Apple always follows it themselves -- witness > the Mail and Safari folders at the root of ~/Library instead of in > ~/Library/Application Support -- but I personally think it's easier for > users to understand, and safer, than tossing anything a user creates, > directly or indirectly, into ~/Documents. Right...why toss documents into /Documents unless they meet Apple's definition of Documents. All things that aren't created by a Save command go in /Library/Application Support/. Like your entire iTunes library. Your entire iPhoto library. FileMaker Pro databases. Virtual PC disk images. Everything that isn't a file ala Word or Photoshop, into /Library/Application Support/ > > I also think it would indeed result in fewer "What do you mean I deleted my > Entourage email?" situations if the MUD folder followed these guidelines. > People delete the MUD folder from ~/Documents because they look at it and > think, "I didn't put that there; it must not be important." Stuff in > ~/Library, on the other hand, most users look at and say, "I have no idea > what that stuff is; I'd better leave it alone." (Sure, there are people who > carelessly delete stuff from ~/Library, too, but there's not much you can do > about them and they're in the minority, in my experience.) No, they delete it because the name is unintuitive and therefore has no meaning. If you keep the MUD name and shove it in Library, it'll get deleted too, right after someone reads some well-meaning article about "cleaning up your home directory". Those get published a lot, and they all point at ~/Library/ If the MUD folder had a more intutive name, like ENTOURAGE MAIL DATABASE FOLDER, I think the "what's that do, I'll delete it" counts would go down just as fast as hiding it. -- Try not to get too depressed. There¹s always something to look forward to. Keep alert, and sooner or later you¹ll see someone slip and hurt themselves. -- To unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> archives: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.letterrip.com/> old-archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/entourage-talk%40lists.boingo.com/>
