5 ms·

How about all the ways windows goes out of its way to hide the home folder, and then is now generating multiple places it calls “Documents”, “Pictures”, etc so

How about all the ways windows goes out of its way to hide the home folder, and then is now generating multiple places it calls “Documents”, “Pictures”, etc so you’re never really sure where anything is?

CamperBob2 7y ago
Imagine what it's like to write user manuals and other documentation for products that have to run on this shitshow. Welcome to my life...
tasogare 7y ago
Probably one of the most infuriating thing indeed. I especially hate how the special names replace the full path in the nav bar.
hvidgaard 7y ago
As long as there is proper support for a virtual folder, I as a user don't care. I can have a unified view of local and cloud documents. As a developer I would settle for accurate and comprehensive documentation.
- projektfu 7y ago
  I think a user does care if they can’t easily know if a document is on the cloud. Like you’re at a conference where you discover your desktop wasn’t saving to the cloud for some reason. The interface is identical between cases.
  - hvidgaard 7y ago
    That is a UI problem. Overlay icon or something like it - or setting to make sure all documents are also present on your machine. I absolutely do not want to know how it's implemented and where to look if it's cloud or not.
fuzzy2 7y ago
They did sort-of roll back the Library stuff that Windows 7+ (or Vista+?) had. They’re still there but they’re no longer in “This PC”. So that’s now okay IMHO. You can quickly access your user folder by going to the address bar and starting to type your user’s display name.
pjc50 7y ago
I don't actually mind this, and it's been around for quite some time? It's certainly convenient to segregate "Downloads" from everything else.
harrygeez 7y ago
I think this is godsend. Before they do this people litter their files all over the filesystem. These magic folders reside in a user's home folder by default anyway. Most Windows users don't really have much clue about the filesystem like everyone here does.
- beatgammit 7y ago
  And is that desirable? Why do we want users to know less about how their computer works? Is it really a problem to know that you have a user directory with a bunch of other directories inside that hold certain classes of information by default? When I open a command prompt (yes, I'm not the average user), I'm in my home directory, and if I create any files or folders, they'll be there by default. To access those files/folders, I used to go through the root of the filesystem (Users -> <username>), but I eventually just made a link in the file explorer to my home directory. Why doesn't that link at least exist by default? I've used enough GUI tools that default to that directory (i.e. WinSCP IIRC) that getting to it should be easy. I think the reason that "most Windows users don't have a clue" is because Microsoft wants it that way for some reason. People were able to figure out DOS, yet these days giving them a link to their home directory is "too complicated"?
  - CathedralBorrow 7y ago
    Why does the user need to know about file systems and home directories and symbolic links if all they want is to save a file and then find it later? Do you feel the same about cars? Are we dumbing things too much down by making driving as simple as pressing a pedal and moving a steering wheel?
    - CamperBob2 7y ago
      The "find it later" part is kind of important.
      - projektfu 7y ago
        Agreed. The average user loses a file when it falls out of the recent documents list, so it'd be nice if a power user at least had some clue where it might be found. Windows "search" is also buggered, as mentioned in the article, and only shows a handful of documents and a thousand irrelevant Bing search results when you're looking for a document.
twodave 7y ago
OSX tends to do this too, but at least you still have a unix terminal and they don't screw with the paths to things...
- Wowfunhappy 7y ago
  The "they don't screw with the path to things" makes a world of difference, IMO. In macOS, the Music folder is literally ~/Music, and the Downloads folder is literally ~/Downloads. While your home folder isn't listed in Finder's sidebar by default, it can be enabled very easily in Finder's preferences.

CamperBob2 7y ago

Imagine what it's like to write user manuals and other documentation for products that have to run on this shitshow. Welcome to my life...

tasogare 7y ago

Probably one of the most infuriating thing indeed. I especially hate how the special names replace the full path in the nav bar.

hvidgaard 7y ago

As long as there is proper support for a virtual folder, I as a user don't care. I can have a unified view of local and cloud documents. As a developer I would settle for accurate and comprehensive documentation.

projektfu 7y ago
I think a user does care if they can’t easily know if a document is on the cloud. Like you’re at a conference where you discover your desktop wasn’t saving to the cloud for some reason. The interface is identical between cases.
- hvidgaard 7y ago
  That is a UI problem. Overlay icon or something like it - or setting to make sure all documents are also present on your machine. I absolutely do not want to know how it's implemented and where to look if it's cloud or not.

fuzzy2 7y ago

They did sort-of roll back the Library stuff that Windows 7+ (or Vista+?) had. They’re still there but they’re no longer in “This PC”. So that’s now okay IMHO. You can quickly access your user folder by going to the address bar and starting to type your user’s display name.

pjc50 7y ago

I don't actually mind this, and it's been around for quite some time? It's certainly convenient to segregate "Downloads" from everything else.

harrygeez 7y ago

I think this is godsend. Before they do this people litter their files all over the filesystem. These magic folders reside in a user's home folder by default anyway. Most Windows users don't really have much clue about the filesystem like everyone here does.

beatgammit 7y ago
And is that desirable? Why do we want users to know less about how their computer works? Is it really a problem to know that you have a user directory with a bunch of other directories inside that hold certain classes of information by default? When I open a command prompt (yes, I'm not the average user), I'm in my home directory, and if I create any files or folders, they'll be there by default. To access those files/folders, I used to go through the root of the filesystem (Users -> <username>), but I eventually just made a link in the file explorer to my home directory. Why doesn't that link at least exist by default? I've used enough GUI tools that default to that directory (i.e. WinSCP IIRC) that getting to it should be easy. I think the reason that "most Windows users don't have a clue" is because Microsoft wants it that way for some reason. People were able to figure out DOS, yet these days giving them a link to their home directory is "too complicated"?
- CathedralBorrow 7y ago
  Why does the user need to know about file systems and home directories and symbolic links if all they want is to save a file and then find it later? Do you feel the same about cars? Are we dumbing things too much down by making driving as simple as pressing a pedal and moving a steering wheel?
  - CamperBob2 7y ago
    The "find it later" part is kind of important.
    - projektfu 7y ago
      Agreed. The average user loses a file when it falls out of the recent documents list, so it'd be nice if a power user at least had some clue where it might be found. Windows "search" is also buggered, as mentioned in the article, and only shows a handful of documents and a thousand irrelevant Bing search results when you're looking for a document.

twodave 7y ago

OSX tends to do this too, but at least you still have a unix terminal and they don't screw with the paths to things...

Wowfunhappy 7y ago
The "they don't screw with the path to things" makes a world of difference, IMO. In macOS, the Music folder is literally ~/Music, and the Downloads folder is literally ~/Downloads. While your home folder isn't listed in Finder's sidebar by default, it can be enabled very easily in Finder's preferences.