Comment by schmuckonwheels

6 days ago

So you're saying they've had 18+ years to remove legacy cruft put in there to support a nearly 28 year old legacy OS that had no real multi-user support and basically zero security?

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schmuckonwheels

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GabrielTFS  6 days ago

Moving away from Program Files would cost far more than it's worth - it'd cause lots of issue for a massive amount of users and be of very little value for others, when the only practical issue with the Steam folder being in Program Files right now is people going "oh I didn't expect that directory to be writable I guess" which is not something worth spending a bunch of time orchestrating a massive transition over.

  • schmuckonwheels  6 days ago

    It's literally in the name: PROGRAM files. It was never meant to store variable data.

    It's also assumed that its contents can be safely restored from original sources, so Program Files is often not backed up - because it's wasteful and not needed.

    Rogue developers thinking they know better than the people who actually designed the system and ignoring the rules put in place is the source of an untold number of problems in the software world. It's absolutely stupid and I have no empathy for the problems caused as a result of their laziness. This attitude is why modern Linux is a complete clusterfuck, a free-for-all with components duct taped together every which way. Do it right or don't do it at all.