Regarding the "Documents" & "Applications" folders:

>Date: Mon, 22 Apr 2002 17:31:29 +0200
>From: Johannes Gebauer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>I wouldn't necessarily trash them, because some installers and even some
>apps do require them:
>Some installers will attempt to install inside the Applications folder.
>Some apps, like iTunes, recent versions of AppleWorks and others require the
>documents folder (AppleWorks actually stores some of it's preferences in
>it.)

I would call any Installer "broken" if it could not gracefully handle the 
non-existance of either of these folders. And most Installers will let 
you specify where they should place the main application folder, 
overriding any factory defaults. 

To date I have not experienced any difficulty due to the fact that I have 
removed the default Documents folder from my Startup Disk. (I do have a 
documents folder on a second partition, but that's got nothing to do with 
anything set up with the system software.) I do still have an 
Applications folder on my Startup Disk, but that is (a) because I got 
tired of deleting it when system updates re-created the thing and (b) my 
dedicated applications partition was starting to get full, so moving a 
select group of apps onto my System partition started to make a lot of 
sense and (c) it's got a nifty custom icon.

Up to and including System 9 there was really nothing mandatory about the 
way folders were set up. You could rename your System Folder to anything. 
You could locate it anywhere on the Startup Disk. There were a few items 
in the System folder that you should not rename or move outside the 
System Folder, but there are magic bits set in the File System 
directories that lock the name and location. I.e., with the stuff that's 
important, the OS makes it difficult for you to shoot yourself in the 
foot.

Of course, that doesn't mean that there aren't broken installers out 
there. But an Installer that is so braindead as to kvetch or croak over a 
missing Documents folder... such a lame animal won't notice when you 
create a brand new folder with the given name and try again.

--

As to OS X: given that it's Unix under the hood, and Unix tends to be a 
bit hard-wired in re: subdirectories, there may be some new limitations 
to your freedoms. Actually, Unix can also be pretty configurable... if 
you're determined;-)

Apple is pretty good about making it easy for you to change things that 
can be changed harmlessly and making it difficult to change things that 
shouldn't be changed unless you really know what you're doing. If the OS 
lets you drag a folder to the trash, you're probably OK. If it doesn't, 
than don't.

CHeers,



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