QUOTE("krissel")
The main reason Apple "recommends" putting their apps in the Applications folder is for ease in upgrading. When you go to the next version of the OS it expects certain files to be in certain places and named properly. There are other apps that also require you to have not changed the name or moved parts of the app.
That's exactly my point! But the
ease is for the
Apple installer/updater, not the customer. Apple designed they OS and the updaters to specificly
not perform
any kind of search, all they do is sniff for the app in the "Applications" directory ( either yours or the hard drives ) if it ain't there, and despite the fact that its dom file is where it's supposed to be, the installer simply quits.
Of course, third-party developers can't take that monopolistic, Microsoft inspired attitude, they depend on goodwill and customer satisfaction, so they make upgrades simple even if somewhat more computer intensive. But they don't require rigid compliance with procedures that make using the computer and maintaining its logical arrangement of apps/documents less than personal. I feel for those who have an Application folder crammed to overflowing with every conceivable app they ever 'installed'!
That, simply chaos, IMHO.
Spotlight was not designed to find applications. Why would it have been, if everyone followed Apples rules?
Secondly, if Spotlight is so handy and is used by so many other developers, why shouldn't Apple use it for its own operations, like finding its own apps? You can't have it both ways. Either Apple is to stupid to use its own technology or it just doesn't care about.
If you want to use a single Documents folder, fine. But that's no better than having Documents folders for each app. I suppose that's what you mean you've done by having multiple folders and even sub folders. But there is no installer/ipdater that I know of that needs to 'see' where the docs for any program may be located, so I don't see what that has to do with my complaint about the "Applications" directory 'rule'.
I usually avoid the problem by simply moving Apple's apps to the Application folders top level so their crippled installers can do their thing. Fortunately, that is not too often, as they usually update the updater within a few days of making the first one available.
As noted by many here, I usually wait a few months, until the final updater arrives!
That way I only have to move the Apple app twice, instead of twice for every new updater until the final one.
While Apple still makes the best consumer OS in the known universe, IMHO, that doesn't mean they are perfect ( as in every thing works the way
I want it to ). I think that quality of "for the rest of us" is starting to disappear from the corporation. That is easy to do as they grow and the connection from the top to the customer gets further and further increased and crowded with 'managers' who are usually more concerned about their paycheck than making 'waves'. And the fact that His Steveness has a somewhat strong personality probably doesn't help.
Oh well, I need another shot of eggnog! And a few of my Great-Grandmother's cookies!
