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To be honest, it is quite complicated now as well with all of the proprietary software
(sh.itjust.works)
I use Arch btw
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Yeah the naming is confusing. The reason is what you said - machine vs app.
Back on Windows 9x, some apps would store files directly in the
C:\Program Files
directory. This was 'fine' at the time since every app ran with full permissions. Users were atC:\Windows\Users
, but users were optional so not every install used it.Windows XP had a better NT-based permission model (not nearly as improved as Vista, but better than 9x) and allowing regular users to write to the Program Files and Windows folders wasn't really a good idea. It added two directories for settings:
C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data
for user-specific dataC:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data
for non-user-specific dataVista kept the former but moved the latter to
C:\ProgramData
. I can't remember why.Windows 7 moved the user stuff to
C:\Users
.