Windows’ My Documents and Documents and Settings Folders (from: Peter Ericson)
http://pericson.com/journal/2005/01/29-windows-my-documents-and-documents-and-settings-folders/
One annoyance I have with Windows is the name of the My Documents folder. I think it is a great idea to save all personal files (documents, photos, etc.) in one place, but I do not think the name of that place should be My Documents. To me, a folder with that name should only contain documents, and I do not consider music files, photos, videos, etc., to be documents (my idea of a document is a letter, a report, an essay, or something like that). Accordingly, it does not seem logical to store the other “My folders” (My Music, My Pictures, My Videos, etc.) inside the My Documents folder. Music, photos, and videos should not be hierarchically ordered under documents; they are on the same level as documents.
I would like to see the My Documents folder renamed. The upcoming Longhorn operating system is supposed to be quite different from previous versions of Windows, and since people are therefore expecting changes, I think the renaming should be done in Longhorn. Possible folder names are My Files, My Data, and Personal Files.
Another option would be to move the other “My folders” up to the same level as the My Documents folder. This is, however, not the option I would go with since it would mean that user folders and files would be mixed up with user-specific system/program folders and files (settings, etc.) in the user’s home directory. I think it is better to have one folder in the user’s home directory contain all personal folders and files, and place the system/program folders and files on the same level as that folder.
In the same spirit, I think the default name of the Windows home directories folder should be changed from Documents and Settings to something else since the users’ home directories contain more than just documents and settings. Possible names are Users (the name this folder had in Windows NT; don’t know why it was changed), Home, and Home Directories. The point is that the name of that folder should not indicate the kinds of files the folder contains, but rather be more generic.
Am I the only one who prefers these names over the current ones, or the only one to even care about this?