Just store it for me

This is an interesting article: untitled document syndrome

In the past I was firmly in the “no, I really do want to specify where you are putting my file” camp, but increasingly I prefer to succumb to human nature and let someone else do it for me.

I still like to be able to configure the root of the storage. For example to put it into my svn working copy so I have a backup and can get at it from other machines. But once that is done, and as long as I can actually find the files somewhere should I want to, I do quite like the way iTunes (for example) just takes what you put into iTunes and stores it for you.

It would be nice if more applications did this. It might be nice if this was some king of system service that an application could use. I think a lot of my applications could benefit from this – it is certainly true that for most business users the location (or the very existence) of the actual file is of little importance, as long as they can find the work and get it back and use it. You only have to look at some people’s machines and the places they manage to get files saved to realise that most people either don’t know or don’t care that there is even a choice to make about the directory they save a file in.