[LINK] Microsoft is dead [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Paul Brooks]

Carl Makin wrote:
>
> On 10/04/2007, at 9:43 AM, Rick Welykochy wrote:
>
>> Paul Brooks wrote:
>>
>>> Then I noticed iTunes had gone and duplicated every single blasted 
>>> song and movie under its own directory tree, filled the disk and 
>>> generally made a mess - not to mention requiring a RAM footprint and 
>>> CPU cycles that would embarass an elephant while it was operating.
>>
>> iTunes and iPhoto rely on symbolic (or perhaps hard) links on Unix
>> to spin their magic. The links allow multiple instances of files to
>> exist in the file system without duplicating the file space.
>
> ITunes doesn't use symlinks on MacOS X.  By default it is set to copy 
> every file into an ITunes managed folder structure on both MacOS X and 
> Windows, but that can be switched off.
>
> There is a preference setting under the "advanced" tab that says "copy 
> files to ITunes music folder when adding to library".  You can uncheck 
> that and it will leave the files where they are and use them there.
>
>
> Carl.
Unfortunately, you don't get to even look for that sort of setting until 
iTunes has cheerfully automagically catalogued, copied, and filled the 
HD when first executed, dragging the machine into the glacial lane for 
an hour or two, and the unfortunate user has then had to dig around to 
find out where all the %^$%^$$% free space got used up while the machine 
complains about low/no free space left.
(then, if one has diligently established a backup regime, the backup 
system starts barfing a day or two later).

None of these are OS-specific design faults IMHO, rather badly targetted 
default application and settings.


Paul.